The Sinnoh Chronicles
by SolanaLeonhart
Summary: Two new trainers are well on their way, coming to a stop in Jubilife city. One of them seeks the third pokedex owner, who has recently arrived himself with no idea of what awaited him. (Under Construction)
1. Chapter 1

_Hi there!_

 _Well, I've given this story a lot of thought and there are somethings I decided to change about it. I was close to giving up on it but I don't want to. Especially since I'm planning to write a fic about the Unova season and I want to use Jaden there. That fic is about the anime, but it's going to have ideas from the Unova games(especially Black 2 and White 2) too along with my own plot._

 _Ah, sorry, getting off subject there. Here's the chapter. I hope you like it._

* * *

A boy about 11 with silvery blond hair and cyan eyes arrived at Jubilife city. He wore a green and gold shirt, khaki colored pants along with grey shoes. A big blue bag was on his back.

His smile widened when he looked around, then turning to his pokemon. "Thanks, Alakazam. I'll see you later."

"Ala." The pokemon nodded back before teleporting again.

"Okay, then...let's go." He stopped before a certain building and pushed the half open door before walking in.

A girl with red hair in pig tails smiled at the sight of him and immediately ran over, giving him a tight hug. "Big brother Jaden!"

The kids who had been overheard her stopped and similarly perked up before joining them.

"You're back!"

"We missed you!"

"Man, it's been so long!"

Jaden just laughed "Yeah, I guess it has. So what's up?"

* * *

A boy and a girl were walking around the city, the former looking decidedly bored.

"So, you're really that excited to see some painting? This guy might not even be all that good." The boy who had sable brown hair and eyes of a lighter shade remarked.

The girl, whose name was Nicole, had dark purple hair and blue eyes. "Don't be like that, Arthur. It definitely sounded like he was."

The two had just left the trainer's school, after hearing about a painting of Swablu and Altaria having been sold to the museum. What made this a big deal was the painter, who was actually lived here years ago. He was their age but his talent was beyond his years.

Nicole had overheard this from the painter's siblings, who were students at the school. Apparently he had made plenty of friends around and they all wanted to see how this work turned out. Swablu and Altaria had always been some of her favorite pokemon, making her rather curious to see the painting. Arthur seemed to decide that he had nothing better to do and so he went with her.

The two of them had gotten their pokemon from Professor Rowan. Her new Piplup was proud like she heard of the species but she still thought it was cute. She didn't like battling as much as the next pokemon but the Piplup was definitely spirited. Nicole didn't mind though, she had her heart set on going for pokemon contests.

Arthur on the other hand had ended up with Turtwig and she was surprised they got along so well. Turtwig was the more cautious and thoughtful type and while Arthur had moments of this sort, he was still rather impulsive. But then she thought maybe the grass type could reinforce what she and Arthur's mother had been trying to teach the boy for so long.

Patience.

The girl remembered all those times she got dragged along with Arthur's harebrained ideas, which practically never ended well. Let it never be said that her old friend was a planner.

"So why did he insist on showing us only those two?" Arthur asked, remembering the question he had in mind ever since visiting the school.

"Apparently, the Professor's doing a favor for a friend. That guy's son is starting his journey too and he asked if Chimchar could be sent over. He's visiting the city so I'm just going to be looking for him. The teacher said he should be in the museum." Nicole explained.

The boy just raised an eye "Oh, come on, we wait for this long to get out pokemon and that kid can't be bothered to show up and get Chimchar?"

"Well, they're hoping to surprise him." Nicole stated, touching her bag, which held Chimchar's pokeball and the third pokedex.

* * *

Jaden was sitting in one of the rooms at the Jubilife orphanage with a canvas in front of him. Most of the kids knew by now that when he started working, they were to keep out of the way so he could concentrate.

An Elekid sat near him, posing with one arm held up. Jaden glanced at the pokemon, before dabbing his brush in the palette and adding some color.

Moments later, he leaned back and nodded to himself when he saw that it was done.

"Thanks Elekid, that should do it."

The pokemon let out a sigh and relaxed. It then hopped off the table and went to take a look at the painting.

Elekid's eyes widened at what could have been a duplicate of itself standing in what looked like a forest. The pokemon was charging an attack, with electricity sparking around its fist.

"So...what do you think?"

"El!" Elekid gave him a thumbs up and a grin, making Jaden smile.

* * *

Arthur let out a breath as they left the pokemon center and left in the museum's direction. "Man, I'm glad I won that battle but what the heck was Turtwig doing in the end?"

Nicole recalled his earlier battle with a trainer that had a Starly and how Turtwig had acted oddly in the end. It almost seemed like the pokemon was trying something but then Turtwig snapped out of it when Arthur ordered him to wrap the battle up. "Maybe Turtwig was trying a new move? You could just check next time you start training."

"Guess so..."

As they turned around a corner, a man came rushing from the other side and bumped into Nicole, knocking her down.

"Watch where you going, you little brat!"

"Hey, what's your problem? You're the one who ran into her!" Arthur pointed out.

The man growled "Don't mess with me, punk! You're just lucky I don't have time to teach you a lesson!"

He ran off before they could register his words. The reason for that became a clear when a police officer ran appeared.

"Hey! Did you kids see a man in a dark brown trench coat?"

"Yeah, he just left. What..." Nicole stopped and cried out, surprising them. "He took my bag!"

"Really, Nicki?" An unimpressed Arthur asked. "You can get another one!"

"We have to, Piplup and Chimchar's pokeballs are in there!"

* * *

"Well, this is perfect!" A man with black hair in a blue business suit exclaimed as he studied the painting. "Yup, he'll definitely like it. Nice work, Jaden."

The boy was glad to see that the painting which he had worked on for days got such a pleasant reaction. Andrew Thorndyke was a friend of his father, who had been looking for a birthday present to give to someone for a while. So Jaden's father asked for help, to which he agreed. Only to be surprised when Andrew gave him money.

"? Mr. Thorndyke, this..."

"Something for a job well done." The man smiled. "You deserve it. Now I know why Alexei was boasting about you."

Jaden's expression was surprised, clearly not knowing that his father did such a thing. He shook it off, though Andrew and Elekid both noted the odd look that followed then.

The man shrugged the thought off and continued. "Well, I know you're going to put it to good use. By the looks of it, that Elekid knows what I mean."

Aforementioned pokemon gave Jaden a grin, proving the man right. The boy gave a sheepish look "Ah...well, thanks. I'm supposed to go to the museum now so maybe I'll see you later."

"Yeah."

* * *

After saying goodbye to Elekid, who had gone off with a friend with Jaden giving it some berries for the help, Jaden made it to the museum.

He couldn't help but smile as he eyed the area, admiring the display. Though admittedly, the art works were what held his attention. Jaden noted how some on goers would stop to look at certain pieces and smile, and he wished he could get his own work to a level that people would admire. He didn't think he was anywhere near that level though. Thanks to his father, Jaden firmly believed that there was always room for improvement.

Although, the boy couldn't help but remember Andrew's words. Since Alexei had hardly shown interest in Jaden's hobby, the boy was touched to learn that he spoke highly of his skills anyway.

"Well, this certainly is impressive." The curator said as he and Jaden stopped in front of a painting that showed a pair of Altaria huddled around a little Swablu in a nest located in a forest. "No wonder everyone kept singing your praises my boy. Just know that I'll happily keep it around."

"Thank you, I'm glad for the praise."

"You certainly deserve it..." The man stopped when his eyes fell on his watch. "...Oh, is it that time already? I'm sorry but I need to go. I've got all the details straightened so you just relax and enjoy yourself."

"Right." Jaden took another look at the painting before he started walking around the hall.

It had been something he worked on a while back. Unlike Andrew's painting, Jaden fully intended on selling this one. The painting had actually been up for a while but Jaden never had the chance to see it until now.

Without quite realizing it, he nearly reached the end of the second floor. Turning to go back down, he stopped when a shrill cry reached his ears. Then another cry, this one more pained and tired followed. Jaden frowned, knowing something was very wrong. He followed the source to find it coming from the roof. The next thing he knew, something fast hit him and vanished.

Jaden sat up, holding his head. "Ugh, what was that?"

It was then that he noticed a Piplup on the ground, cringing. Without a second thought, he went to the pokemon. "Hey, are you all right?"

"...Lup?" The water type blinked and looked up at Jaden. Its eyes widened as if suddenly remembering something and it quickly tugged at Jaden's sleeve, staring at the entrance to the roof. "Pi Piplup lup!"

"You want me to leave?"

"Piplup!"

Jaden was about to question this when the shrill cry came again, making the two look up to see a Fearow fighting a small figure on its back. Growling, the bird descend quickly and the figure jumped to the ground, revealing itself to be a Chimchar.

The Fearow turned its attention to the group of three, giving them an angry glare...

* * *

At the same time, Nicole and Arthur had followed the man to the museum. They spotted some commotion on the roof and knew that their suspicions were spot on.

"Let's go!"

* * *

Chimchar growled as he pulled himself up, watching the Fearow tower over them. He glanced at the newly arrived human, who looked like he didn't know what to do. The three dodged Fearow's attack and watched straighten itself up again.

"Hey..." Jaden began. "...I think...Fearow has a trainer." This confused Chimchar and Piplup and they listened to him explain. "See that black thing strapped to its back? That's a communicator, so someone has to be giving Fearow orders. I don't know if it'll stop this but we can at least get some help."

The pokemon agreed with this idea, and they worked together to distract Fearow and get a clear shot at the communicator. The idea worked in that it startled Fearow and made it crash down, giving them time to leave.

When they arrived at the second floor it was to find the area in chaos, the man with trenchcoat was back and the Fearow in front of him was fighting against Arthur's Turtwig. The boy seemed to be demanding something and the man just laughed it off.

Jaden was trying to decide what to do when he saw Piplup and Chimchar head in the direction of the two...

"Oh, Piplup!" Nicole happily hugged her pokemon. "You're both okay?"

"Lup!"

Growling at the sight of the opponents that gave it a lot of trouble, Fearow began flapping its wings to create a fierce gust that surrounded them. Nicole had to hold on tightly to Piplup to make sure she stayed down and Arthur quickly grabbed Turtwig.

The problem was that neither made it in time to catch Chimchar as it was blown away by the winds.

"NO!"

Chimchar was sent flying towards the window. The fire type tried to do something about his predicament but the Gust was too strong. Chimchar closed his eyes when he saw the window close.

This was exactly why he had never noticed the person grabbing him until he was pulled inside.

"Char?" Chimchar blinked and looked up to see Jaden.

"Whew, close call, huh?"

"Chi Chimchar!" The fire type thanked, eliciting a smile from the artist.

Arthur exhaled "Talk about lucky..."

Turtwig smiled, glad that his friend was safe while Piplup let out a sigh of relief.

The man in the trenchcoat looked at them. "Oh, so that's how those two found about the communicator so soon? How'd you figure it out, kid?"

"It was obvious." Jaden said coldly as he stood.

"Heh, that so? Well, it doesn't matter. I'm still taking those three with me."

"Just try it! Turtwig use Tackle!"

"Try using Peck, Piplup!"

As they watched the battle get under way again, Jaden and Chimchar both wanted to help them stop this man. But what could they do?

"Chim!" Chimchar looked at Jaden "Ch Chi Chimchar Char!"

The fire started pointed at himself and Jaden before turning to the battle field.

"...I get it, you want to work together?"

"Char!"

"All right, let's go!" The two went to join the group of four.

"Big brother!"

Jaden froze at the familiar voice before looking at the second floor, his determined expression becoming fearful when his eyes landed on two young girls and a boy wearing school uniform along with a woman with dark brown hair wearing a violet sundress. "No... What're you all doing here?"

The man in the trench coat smirked when he saw them "Well, well, looks like things just got interesting. Fearow!"

The bird crowed in response and flew over. Nicole frowned "No, you don't! Piplup, stop Fearow with Peck!"

"You help out with Razor Leaf, Turtwig!" Arthur added.

Jaden stopped to think for a moment "You know how to use to Ember, right?" Chimchar nodded "Then try launching it when Fearow stops moving again."

It worked, since Fearow had paused for a few moments after dodging Piplup's strike, leaving it to be assaulted by both the razor sharp leaves and the flurry of embers.

"All right!" Arthur smirked.

"Here, this should come in handy." Nicole gave Jaden the pokedex from her bag and showed him Chimchar's information.

The man in the trench coat sneered "I warned you not to mess with me, brats! Fearow, Hyper beam again!"

Jaden stiffened in surprise and saw that Nicole didn't know what to do either. Luckily, Arthur reacted then.

"Turtwig, hurry up and use Withdraw!"

The little turtle stepped in front of his friends and withdrew into his shell, enduring the blast. But when it cleared up, Turtwig was down for the count.

"Return!" Arthur called. "I can see why the newbie would freeze up but you shouldn't, Nicki. Now stop this guy!"

"Got it." Nicole responded while Jaden nodded. "Sorry about that. Piplup, let's use Bubblebeam!"

Fearow couldn't move because of the Hyper beam, leaving it vulnerable to that attack and a Scratch from Chimchar.

"All right now try Peck!"

"Dodge it and use Drill Peck!"

Fearow was about to go in for the attack when another voice spoke

"Use Ember!"

Grinning, Chimchar struck the bird on the head, sending it reeling. Jaden continued "Now follow it up with Leer, Chimchar!"

The chimp then concentrated and sent Fearow a glare that startled it into stopping. Taking the opportunity, Nicole called for a Peck.

They followed with a Bubblebeam and Ember that served to knock Fearow down for the count.

"We did it!" Nicole cheered.

* * *

"Thank you so much for this." The curator said, watching the policeman from earlier drag the tired thief away.

"Ah, hey, no sweat. It was the right thing to do!" Arthur assured.

"Oh no..."

"What?" He looked at Nicole and the pokemon, who were watching the workers take down Jaden's ruined painting with upset looks.

The curator felt worse when he noticed Jaden's expression. And he couldn't blame him.

Arthur cringed. "Oh crud, don't tell me that was..."

"Big brother!" The kids from before ran to Jaden.

"Hey, Mike, Rosa, Farah, you all right?" He asked, bending to their level.

"Y-yeah, but..."

"Your painting..."

He smiled warmly "No one's hurt right?" He looked at the kids and the pokemon, who shook their heads. "That's what matters, I can redo the painting no problem. I'm just glad everyone's safe. All things considered, we actually got off lightly." Farah, the younger girl teared up and hugged him, her friends looked just as upset because they knew how much work Jaden had put into this one. They had seen Jaden's upset look and it made them feel worse, knowing that the boy was ignoring his own feelings to make them feel better. "There, there, it's all right. Don't worry about it."

"Wait, he made that?" Arthur couldn't help but ask. Chimchar was watching Jaden with a curious look, wondering the same.

"Yeah." The woman, whose name was Helen, replied. "The money from that painting went to us. You see, Jaden has been helping me with the orphanage for some time now. He's even kept in touch after they moved and as you can see, plenty of the kids love him and appreciate his work."

The curator, who already knew this, merely smiled "A kind soul, isn't he?"

The ones who were new to this story agreed. Arthur recalled his earlier impression of Jaden and shook it off. The boy was a really good person to do this.

As it so happened, Jaden would end up helping them again soon.

He praised Chimchar and inquired about his trainer. This made the fire type struggle to respond and he looked at Nicole helplessly.

The girl facepalmed "Sorry, Chimchar, I completely forgot! Mr. Curator, do you know a guy named Jaden Vega? I'm supposed to find him."

The kids exchanged grins at this, while Helen began to smile.

The curator raised an eye "Well, you have..."

Jaden tilted his head a little "You were looking for me?"

"Wait, so...what're the odds?" Arthur grinned. "Dude, _you're_ Chimchar's trainer!"

"What?"

Helen was the one to explain "The truth is your father, Nurse Joy and I came to an agreement that it was the time for you to get your own pokemon. So we asked Professor Rowan and he had this young lady come over to help."

Jaden seemed lost "? But this is..."

Rosa grabbed his hand with a grin, getting his attention "We think so too! We wanted to keep it a surprise for you, big brother. You said you couldn't make up your mind about the journey but we know you would make an awesome trainer!"

"Definitely!" Mike chimed in. "You're good at making friends with pokemon. Just like you did with Elekid, we wouldn't have been so close if it wasn't for you. You wanted to travel around like Mr. Alexei did, right?"

"You don't have to worry about a thing." Farah added, hugging him again. "We'll be okay."

Jaden couldn't help but chuckle "...Am I really that predictable?"

"Just a little." Helen said teasingly. "But we really know you by now. Alexei mentioned that you were hesitating so we thought to give you a little push. I can't say I'm surprised, you did tend to worry too much. But there's no reason for that now. Just follow the path you believe in, I know you'll do well."

"You know..." Nicole began. "...you did pretty good in that mess just now, our pokemon seem to like you."

"Yeah, and getting Nicki's prissy Piplup to do that much is a real hassle." This earned Arthur a Bubble to the face from said 'prissy' pokemon. He shot the pokemon a peeved look before going on. "I guess you've had your own reasons for not going on the journey sooner but it does sound like you're over thinking stuff."

"We're only starting out ourselves but even if it can seem scary, the journey is actually a lot of fun. I'm already learning loads and I really think you should go for it." Nicole added.

Jaden thought all this over. It was true, he did want to go, but wasn't sure if he was ready. But if Helen and the kids and even his father thought he was then maybe...

"I guess...I'll just have to try my best."

Chimchar cheered at this, jumping to his new trainer's arms.

* * *

Chimchar watched curiously as Jaden went to one of the phones in the pokemon center and sat. He dialed a number and waited, someone answered moments later. The screen lit up, showing an image of a man with silvery blond hair and dark brown eyes.

"Hi, Dad."

"Hey, kiddo!" Alexei Vega grinned, his eyes fell on Chimchar a second later. "Oh, so you found out."

"Yeah and you couldn't be bothered to tell me, because why?"

"Well, it was supposed to be a surprise." Alexei reminded with a chuckle. "If it was up to me, I'd have been there but I got held up at work."

"I thought it was that..." Ever since his promotion last year, Alexei has had to put in more hours in the office and he felt terrible for not spending more time with his son. He did try his best to make up for it though as he felt this wasn't fair to Jaden.

"I see you two are clearly getting along." Alexei commented.

His son and Chimchar exchanged a look and smiled before turning to him "I think so. I guess...we're just going to start traveling tomorrow."

"Good to know. You had better stop by when you get to Hearthome city. It would be great to meet all the friends you have then."

Jaden smiled "Right." He looked down for a moment, thinking about something.

"What is it?" Alexei prompted.

"Char?" Chimchar tilted his head, wondering if something was wrong.

Jaden shook his head "I think...I'll just tell you when we meet up."

"I'll hold you to that then. Now it's getting late, you two better get ready for the big day."

The boy nodded "I'll...talk to you later then."

Alexei's expression looked sad for a second but his grin returned after that "Don't be a stranger. I'll be waiting."

Jaden smiled, seeming relieved as Chimchar jumped to his arms after giving Alexei a wave.

"Okay."

* * *

 _Well, that's that!_

 _Yeah, I wasn't planning to but I changed things with Jaden's parents and they're going to be important for the plot later. I'm going to add stuff about Alexei when I can but his mom's...a little more complicated so bear with me._

 _Oh and for the record, this started out because I was inspired by pokemon platinum but all I'm doing is picking ideas from the game. The villains are...we can call them Team Galactic's predecessors, I guess? Because this story takes place over a year before the Sinnoh season._

 _I know it doesn't seem like much but I want to change things up with this story. I'd love to hear what readers think of it, so please read and review!_


	2. Chapter 2

"I thought your journey would be eventful but this is quite a turn."

Nicole sighed "Don't remind me, Professor. I spent the last ten minutes reassuring my parents that everything was all right. I didn't even know they had that entire fiasco on TV!"

Professor Rowan watched her through his video phone screen "Well, it's to be expected. If it makes you feel any better, they didn't quite get all the details clearly so many people don't know you're the ones who stopped that thief."

"I'm just glad it's over..." Arthur had left a little while ago to get them both some dinner, which left her to tell him everything. "Jaden's talking to his dad now. I think you'll like him, he was a big help back then."

"Hm, I gathered as much."

"You know, I keep thinking the name Vega reminds me of something but I can't say what..." Nicole trailed off.

Professor Rowan tilted his head a little "Well, you might have seen it on a book. Jaden's parents are published authors, his mother Sarah was one of my assistants and is now a researcher. Not to mention, Alexei is a retired explorer."

"Yeah?..." She looked interested. "I think I'd better be going. Arthur promised to get us some food too."

"Very well, thank you for taking time to explain things to me."

"Sure, see you around."

* * *

When he woke up the next morning, Jaden found Chimchar sitting near the pillow. A small smile formed on his face as he remembered what went down yesterday. "Oh, morning Chimchar."

"Chim!" The starter waved his hand in greeting.

After he got ready for the day, Jaden leaned against the side of a bed with a thoughtful look. Chimchar jumped to his lap and the boy stroked his head, making the pokemon grin.

"Now that we're here...I can't help but think back. You know, there was a time when I didn't think I could ever get to start. I mean become a trainer and all."

"Char?" Chimchar tilted his head, as if asking 'Really?'

"Yeah, it's...complicated. I'll tell you about it some other time. But for now let's just say things have been messy lately. I didn't expect Dad to do this but I actually thought of talking to Dad and asking Alakazam to take me to Sandgem town after I sorted things out with the paintings." Jaden then grinned. "Not that I'm complaining. I'm happy I got to meet you when I did."

Feeling the same, the fire type gave him a hug which made the blond laugh.

"Okay, you ready to get going?"

"Chimchar!"

* * *

There was quite the activity in the orphanage as the kids gathered to say goodbye to Jaden. Helen and Felix, a boy with black hair and green eyes, who used to live here were observing as the kids wished Jaden well. The one thing they could all agree on then was their faith in their big brother.

Felix leaned back, looking amused. "Heh, I'm actually kind of jealous. I know for a fact there wasn't this much of a commotion when I left."

Helen just smiled, keeping her eye on the scene.

The kids were happy to meet Chimchar too. They had gotten carried away and Jaden and Felix had to intervene before they suffocated the poor fire type with their affection. So the starter was quite content to watch from his trainer's shoulder, he didn't want to deal with that again.

"We'll see what happens but I'm flattered that you guys believe me in so much." Jaden was saying as one of the girls hugged him.

"Hey, big brother, when you get new pokemon can we meet them?" Rosa asked.

"Sure, just..." Jaden glanced at Chimchar. "...take it easy on them, okay?"

"Okay!"

Felix approached them when he remembered something "Hey, the girl with the Piplup came looking for you last night. I think she said her name with Nicole? Those..." He took out five pokeballs. "...come with Chimchar's pokeball but I guess she forgot to give it to you with all the chaos yesterday. I told her I'd take care of it."

"Thanks." Jaden placed them in his bag.

Mike watched Felix pick up his bag "You're leaving too?"

"Yeah, I was going in a couple of days but I finished up everything sooner than I thought. Besides..." Felix looked at Jaden. "...someone's going to have to teach our little newbie here a thing or two."

Said 'newbie' merely gave him a look "I think I can handle myself. Thanks."

"Aw, don't be like that! We all got to start somewhere. We're going to be rivals soon but I don't mind doing that now."

"What do you mean going to be? Big brother's a trainer too." Farah looked puzzled.

"Yeah, a trainer for less than a day. I've already been through a region, remember?"

"Like you'd let us forget." Mike said flatly.

Jaden merely rolled his eyes while Helen sighed, both knew what was coming. Their suspicions were proven right the next second.

"If this is another gloating session then you can save it." One of the boys said.

"Yeah!"

"Hey, at least let me finish before you say that!" Felix protested.

"We know what you're going to say. This is about you competing in the Hoenn League again, right?" Rosa's question silenced him.

"N-no!" That was a dead giveaway. "Of course, I completely forgot how rude you all can be..."

"We're not rude, it's the truth!"

"Oh, yeah? Well..."

Jaden exhaled "Let's not have this again, okay? Oh and Felix, since I know you're going to keep going, I'll just make one point. Combee, in the morning."

Normally this wouldn't have made sense, but plenty of the people present knew exactly what it meant. A number of the kids did, which is why they started laughing.

Felix's face reddened "Hey, you said you weren't going to hold that over my head!"

"Oh, like you said you were going to replace all the art supplies I lost that day?"

He inwardly groaned. 'I should have known.'

Jaden did tend to get irritable and cheeky when his hobby was at risk. Although, that quite a lot of stuff that was messed up beyond repair...

Yeah, he could see why his friend was holding that against him.

Luckily for Felix, Helen seemed to take pity on him and so she changed the subject back to the matter at hand.

"All right then," she hugged both boys. "Good luck." Helen looked at Jaden and Chimchar. "You just go out there and do your best. Chimchar, I'm counting on you to keep him safe, okay?"

"Char!" The chimp nodded, saluting her.

"Now Felix, just because you're more experienced, doesn't mean you can get cocky." She stated matter-of-factly. "Look out for each other."

"Sure!"

The kids quickly went after them, waving good bye as Jaden and Felix left the city.

Helen looked back at the kids "Come to think of it, none of you told me that story."

Rosa giggled "I'll tell you now, it's really funny!"

* * *

"Seeing as I'm pretty sure you've almost memorized this route, this really feels different, huh?" Felix asked once they arrived at Route 203. Jaden gave him a curious look. "I know the feeling, bro. You're starting out on a milestone in life, it'll definitely feel special."

"I guess you're right..." He smiled a bit. "...so what're you waiting for?"

"I'm looking." Felix corrected, returning to look around the trees. "Where the heck is...oh! Hey, over here!"

Jaden and Chimchar were surprised at the sight of the Grovyle that jumped down to meet them after that.

"So, guys here's my first pokemon and the only one I brought here with me, Grovyle!"

The grass type looked at the two with interest. Jaden remembered that since he was born in Hoenn, Felix had decided to start his journey from there. Chimchar chirped out a greeting with Jaden soon following suit.

"Hey, nice to meet you."

"Gro!" The pokemon nodded back.

"You had a choice between Treecko, Torchic and..." Jaden stopped to remember.

"Mudkip." Felix supplied, nodding. "It wasn't easy to choose but I think I got the best of the lot." Grovyle smirked at this.

Chimchar climbed up his trainer's shoulder and pointed to Jaden's pocket. The blond raised an eye, but then he remembered the pokedex and used it on Grovyle.

 **"Grovyle, the wood gecko pokemon. It leaps from tree branch to tree branch quite swiftly. It shows astounding agility."**

"So where are your other pokemon?" asked Jaden.

"They liked hanging out in Professor Birch's lab so he let them stay. I figured why not? They made a whole bunch of friends over there anyway." Felix replied. "Did I tell you I've been left a place by my parents?"

Jaden blinked "Really? Where?"

"Apparently, they owned the Jubilife condominiums. So now I've got the place they lived in. A bunch of people rented apartments there. One of their friends set up a bank account for me and he promised to send the rent money."

"That's nice of him."

"Yeah..." The older dark haired boy had to admit he used to be jealous of Jaden, for he still had family around. Jaden seemed to know how much Felix missed his family so he tried to help. The thing that affected him the most was when Jaden pointedly asked why he couldn't consider everyone in the orphanage as family. Felix knew he was on to something but what really kicked those feelings aside was what he found out about Jaden's family. It just left him feeling bad for his friend.

Jaden was talking to Chimchar and so was completely unaware of the eyes watching him. Grovyle noticed his trainer spacing out though and he tilted his head in silent question. Felix merely shook his head, telling him to drop it.

"There you are!" A boy with dark brown hair and eyes jumped in front of the group. He was scowling at Felix. "Finally, I was waiting for a rematch. This time, you're going down!"

Felix blinked "Oh, Kevin. Dude, you're still sore about that? What makes you think you can win now?"

The boy's eye twitched "Shut up! You just got lucky, it won't happen again!"

Jaden suddenly remembered Felix mentioning something about a particularly sore loser he met a couple of days ago...

"Whatever. Grovyle?" The pokemon stepped in front of his trainer to answer the silent question.

Kevin sneered "Okay, Girafarig, come out and use Tackle!"

The pokemon emerged a second later and wasted no time in charging at Grovyle.

"All right, we'll use Screech." Felix responded. Grovyle inhaled and let out a powerful cry that sent Girafarig reeling.

Jaden groaned and Chimchar rubbed his ears, frowning "A little warning would be nice, Felix."

The boy laughed sheepishly "Sorry, bro. Next time. Now Grovyle, Quick Attack!"

Kevin yelped as his pokemon was struck again "Don't take that lying down. Use Psybeam!" He grinned as this one hit. "Again!"

"I don't think so. Agility!"

Grovyle used the opportunity to hurry up and get close to its opponent. Felix then ordered a Leaf Blade which struck hard, causing a lot of damage. He then had his pokemon follow with a Slam attack to end the fight.

"Aw, no way!" Kevin returned his pokemon. "I won't forget this!"

"Sadly, I'm sure he won't..." Felix mumbled. "Nice work, Grovyle."

"Grovyle!"

The group was about to continue when they heard someone call Jaden and turned to see Nicole running over. She was followed by a boy with dark hair and blue eyes.

"So there you were!"

* * *

Nicole introduced her companion as Lucas, explaining that he and his father assisted Professor Rowan in his research.

"Well, you sure look happy, Chimchar." Lucas noted and the starter grinned back.

"Hold up, if those two and Nicole's friend got the starters, what about you?" Felix asked.

Lucas smiled, taking out a pokeball "I'll show you." He let it open, and the pokemon inside was revealed to be a little orange chick with yellow tufts of feather on the head and chest with dark eyes and somewhat thin legs.

"I got him from dad." Lucas settled a plate of food in front of the pokemon.

"A Torchic, huh?" Jaden took out the pokedex. He had started reading up on Hoenn pokemon since Felix started told him about the region. He pointed the device at the fire starter.

The device came to life and a mechanical voice said **"Torchic, the Chick pokemon, it has a flame sac in its body that it perpetually burns. It feels warm if hugged."**

Torchic sat next to Piplup and Shinx before starting to eat. He eyed the new group curiously, only to be relieved when he realized they were friendly. His eyes did linger on Chimchar though.

"This is the one I was telling you about, remember? In Hoenn, trainers get your species for a starter but here it's Chimchar." Lucas explained, smiling when the chimp waved.

Torchic chirped out a greeting and the fire types started talking.

"We saw that battle, Felix, you guys are good." Nicole commented.

"Heh, thanks it was okay. That guy made it too easy."

"Interesting way to get your first pokemon, huh?" Lucas remarked idly. "I hear your Dad set it all up nicely with Chimchar being your favorite and all."

Jaden smiled, noticing the pokemon's surprise at this. "Yeah, I didn't see it coming. With everything that happened lately, I didn't really get to think about the journey until a little while ago."

"About that..." Nicole started. "...I stayed back a year to learn as much as I can about pokemon and we tried to get Arthur to do the same. But Professor Rowan for you it was mostly because you had to spend a lot of time in the hospital."

"Y-yeah..." Jaden's expression darkened for a few moments. "...things got messy just after Dad planned the move and...well, one thing lead to the other. We had our hands full but it's all okay now."

Felix raised an eye brow "You make it sound so simple but it clearly isn't. What happened?"

Jaden turned away "It...doesn't matter. I'm not sure you'll believe me anyway."

Lucas then remembered something "Come to think of it, I read about your Dad's work. Any chance you know why he decided to stop being an explorer all of a sudden?"

"Well, he just said he got tired of it." Jaden's tone said that he wasn't too sure about the reason.

Nicole perked up "Hey guys, Lucas told me some pokemon which don't usually live around here have settled in. You want to try finding them with us?"

"Sure!" Felix grinned.

* * *

It wasn't too hard to find them either. They seemed to stay around a particular area and Felix made use of that fact to catch a Poliwag. Jaden and Nicole were interested in seeing some more of them while Lucas was curious to find out what made the pokemon come here.

"You know, this is why I can never see myself becoming a researcher. You guys just dig deep into everything, huh?" Nicole mused.

"Well, I'm not a researcher yet but I guess it's a habit I picked up from the work." Lucas shrugged.

Felix walked past him "I'm with her, dude. It sounds like you're overthinking this."

A girl with black hair and grey eyes walked through the bushes, smiling when she saw the group. "Felix, Jaden, I thought that was you guys."

"Hey, Cindy." The first returned.

"So, Training again?" The second asked.

"Yeah, I figure it's a good time. So you decided to travel together?"

"For now," Felix nodded before introducing the girl to their new friends.

Cindy's eyes fell on the pokemon "Wow, they're cute! I've never even seen this one before!" She added, looking at Torchic with interest.

Chimchar tensed slightly, remembering the last time someone reacted that way around him. He didn't want to deal with that again...

Cindy looked at Lucas "Hey, let's have a battle!"

"Okay, ready when you are."

* * *

Cindy grinned and Torchic stepped in front of Lucas "All right! Come on, Pachirisu!"

"Quick Attack!"

"Get out of the way and use Swift!" Cindy smirked as the strike sent Torchic down. "Nice, now follow it up with Shock wave!"

Nicole spoke then "Your friend's good."

"Yeah, she was always good at battling even in trainer school." Jaden remarked.

"Don't get me started on the theory stuff though." Felix added.

Cindy's eye twitched "I heard that! I'm dealing with you later. Pachirisu, Quick attack!"

Lucas' face lit up when Torchic stood "All right, let's turn this around. Use Flamethrower!"

Pachirisu had been far too close to dodge and so took the full brunt of the attack. Lucas grinned "Okay, now Quick Attack!"

Cindy exhaled in relief when her pokemon managed to get up "Let's try another Shock wave!"

"Then we'll go with Flamethrower!"

The attacks clashed in the air, though Flamethrower proved to be stronger and it knocked Pachirisu out.

Cindy sighed and took out a pokeball "Thanks Pachirisu, return!" She looked at Lucas. "Hey, good match."

"Yeah, you two were tough."

"Hehe, thanks." She grinned. "So if any of you have a pokemon who can learn Shock wave I can use my TM."

Nicole smiled "Really? Can you please teach Shinx?"

"Sure thing!"

* * *

After they got that out of the way, the group ran into another of the new inhabitants of the route. A Murkrow.

An excited Chimchar looked at his trainer "Chi Chimchar!"

"The little guy sure looks pumped to battle." Cindy noted.

Jaden smiled "Then I say we get to it. Ready to help me catch that Murkrow?"

"Char!"

The pokemon's eyes narrowed and it prepared itself for a battle. Nicole tilted her head a little and pointed the pokedex at the bird.

 _"_ **Murkrow, the darkness pokemon, it hides any shiny object it finds in a secret location. Murkrow and Meowth loot one another's stashes."**

Murkrow flew at Chimchar, his wings shining as he powered up a Wing Attack. Jaden had Chimchar use Ember to stop it. While it didn't have the effect they hoped as Murkrow reacted quickly and moved, it did hit Murkrow's leg and make him fall down.

"Okay, use Scratch!"

Murkrow cringed at the attack before pulling himself together and countering with a Peck attack. The pokemon proceeded to get close to Chimchar before disappearing. A second later, the chimp was hit from behind.

"What just happened?" Nicole asked, startled.

"That was Feint Attack." Felix replied. "Sneaky little bird, huh?"

Jaden was about to order an attack but Murkrow went fast and hit his pokemon with another Feint Attack. He debated on the next step as he watched the bird fly towards Chimchar with a Wing Attack at the ready.

"All right, try Leer!" The blond said quickly.

Murkrow shook as he flew, startled by the fierce glare Chimchar sent his way then. Jaden then went on to order a Fury Swipes and their opponent cried out as the claws raked his body.

"You know for someone just starting out, Jaden's not doing so bad." Lucas remarked.

"Yeah, we had some battles on the way. Turns out those two make a pretty nice team." Felix said, Grovyle nodded in agreement.

"Not to mention, he did well in the battle lessons back in school." Cindy added.

The blond's eyes narrowed as Murkrow charged in. This time he knew what to do.

"Chimchar, use Ember on the ground!"

Some of them were confused by this, until they saw the fire attack land near Murkrow's feet. This served to startle the darkness pokemon and make him stop attacking.

"Okay, use the full blast on Murkrow!" Jaden commanded.

Chimchar steered himself so the ember wave moved to Murkrow, who started to fall. Jaden then had his pokemon use Scratch and the bird was sent crashing down.

"That's it! Try throwing the pokeball now." Nicole suggested.

Nodding, Jaden did just that and the device sucked Murkrow in. Everyone watched with baited breath as it shook a few times before coming to a stop. Jaden smiled and picked it up while Chimchar cheered for their success, jumping to the blond's arms then.

"Good job, we did it." Chimchar beamed back and their eyes fell on the pokeball. "Looks like we got our first teammate, partner."

"Chimchar!" The pokemon grinned, giving Jaden a thumbs up.


	3. Chapter 3

"Ehhh? You actually know Cynthia?!"

This was the reaction from Felix and Nicole after Jaden finished telling them about meeting her years ago.

Honestly, he knew it was a surprise but they were totally overreacting.

"You've been holding out on me, bro!" Felix accused. "How?"

"My mom and her grandma were friends. I didn't actually know she was the champion back then so..."

Thankfully, Lucas seemed to be as calm as can be "But that's cool, so meeting her was one of the reasons you wanted to become a trainer, huh?"

"Mmhm, Cynthia's really nice. She taught me a whole bunch about pokemon, and I heard some of what she learned as a trainer, like how she matured and became the person she was then thanks to her pokemon. I remember thinking how amazing having a journey with pokemon would be after that. Ever since then I've decided, what I want to meet and know lots of pokemon. To make the most of journey like Cynthia did, and be the best person I can be, someone strong and reliable." Jaden smiled sheepishly. "Does that sound strange?"

"Are you kidding? No way! I think it's neat." Nicole assured.

"Yeah, that's some great inspiration." Felix nodded.

"Mmhm, I know the feeling. I want to travel and learn loads about pokemon too, maybe even legendaries. It would be so cool if we get to see one." Lucas said with a small grin. "What do you think?"

Jaden's expression shifted for a moment "Yeah...I guess it would be."

"So you really are rivals from the start, huh?" Nicole looked between him and Jaden.

"Sure are. I'm totally going for a shot at the champion title, all the way! You?"

"I like contests a lot. But I'm thinking maybe I'll try a gym battle once." Nicole paused. "The way Dad kept going on about them before, I really want to see what it's like for myself."

"It's a blast, I can tell you that." Felix informed.

"You guys really thought things through, huh?" Lucas cocked his head with a small smile.

"Kind of, so if you work with Professor Rowan, does that mean you want to be a Professor too?" Jaden asked curiously.

"Maybe, it's either that or become a doctor." He shrugged. "I figure I got time to decide. But speaking of deciding, you done picking out nicknames now?"

"I think..." It was something Nicole had mentioned earlier but she also added how frustrated she was that nothing she came up with seemed right. Jaden had been thinking it over for a while and he came to a decision, luckily his pokemon didn't mind.

"I don't even need to try. Grovyle finds the idea stupid." Felix said with a shrug. "Anyway, wanna try the first gym together, Jaden?"

He tilted his head "I'm...not sure. Gym leaders are really tough and all...besides Arthur said it was a rock type gym."

Felix blinked "It is?"

"Yeah, when we were waiting to tell the police about what happened at the museum he said he was so psyched to get to Oreburgh City so he can beat those rock types with Turtwig."

Nicole shook her head "Somehow I doubt it's that easy. I bet he's there though."

"I'd be surprised if he isn't." Lucas remarked, agreeing. "But this really makes things harder for Jaden..."

"Ah, I figure I'll just take time to train my pokemon now. I can always challenge the gym when I've got more experience." The blond said with a shrug.

"Sounds like a plan."

* * *

They battled some trainers along the way, Piplup, Poliwag and Chimchar (newly nicknamed Dante) and Murkrow (newly nicknamed Stratos) were picking up a good amount of experience. Grovyle, Shinx and Torchic, being the more experienced battlers, ended up defeating the more powerful opponents.

"Bidoof, use tackle!" A girl exclaimed.

"Jump and use Bubblebeam, Piplup!" Nicole responded.

The move sent the Bidoof reeling. Then Piplup's beak started glowing and she dove in to strike the Bidoof, taking it down and out.

Nicole perked up "You learned Peck! Awesome!"

"Lup!" Piplup beamed.

* * *

"Use Scratch!" Lucas commanded.

Torchic ran towards his opponent, a Starly, but the pokemon's trainer told Starly to fly out of the way.

"Now use Quick attack!" The trainer named Clark responded with a smug smile.

He was confused when Lucas smiled "Flamethrower go!"

Clark's mouth fell at this and he decided a little too late to tell Starly to try and dodge but his pokemon had already taken a big hit from Torchic that defeated it.

"All right!" Lucas grinned.

* * *

"I'm all pumped up for the gym battle now. It'll be great!" Felix grinned.

Nicole smiled "I know how you feel. I thought of a move to use in a contest too."

"No good, little, irritating..."

"Hey!" The girl pouted. "That wasn't nice!"

The boys gave her puzzled looks and Felix said. "That wasn't us."

She blinked and tilted her body to the side, seeing a man with black hair holding a fishing pole and an annoyed expression as he continued to glare at the river behind him.

Clark, who was passing by on his way back to Jubilife city, seemed to be the only one who knew what was going on. "Hank's back again? I thought he gave up."

"You know that guy?" Jaden asked.

"Yeah, he's been around at least twice times this week. Apparently he's chasing some rare pokemon but I don't buy it."

"Why?"

"Just ask him. You'll see." Clark left.

The conversation seemed to bring the man's attention to the three trainers. "Hey, good timing! I need you to help with something."

"Us?" Nicole blinked.

"You see anyone else here?" The man asked impatiently.

Nicole frowned at his attitude. That was some way to ask people for help...

"You're looking for a Magikarp?"

"Well, that's easy enough." Nicole commented, still a little confused.

Lucas raised an eye. Magikarp were really common in this area. Was he having that much trouble finding one?

Felix was thinking along the same lines. Judging by his expression, so was Jaden. "Hold on, what kind of Magikarp is this? It can't be that hard to get one."

They had come plenty of times and definitely seen plenty of the fish pokemon around these parts.

Hank sighed "You hit the nail on the head, kid. It's no normal Magikarp. It's golden."

"Golden?"

"Yup, totally golden. I heard about it from a friend who saw it swimming on his way home. It's apparently pretty strong for a Magikarp too, he tried to catch it but he only had a few pokeballs and only one pokemon. I came really close last time too."

"Hold on, I've never heard of this. Are you trying to mess with us or something?" Lucas frowned, this would be a mean prank to play if that was the case. If it was true, then this was pretty interesting.

"Does it look like I'm lying?!" Hank exclaimed, suddenly looking angry and unnerving the boy.

Jaden look annoyed. This guy was really starting to get on his nerves. He wanted their help but he was totally rude and a little obnoxious in his opinion.

At least Jaden was doing better than Nicole, who looked ready to snap at Hank. So he decided to take things into his hands.

"Hank, be reasonable about this. We already heard that you've been here twice before. Meaning you already tried looking for this supposedly golden Magikarp. You can't expect everybody to take your story so easily and you're not supposed to act that way with people you're trying to ask for help. You realize we can just walk away, don't you?"

Lucas and Nicole looked surprised with his honesty. That wasn't quite the way they would've said it but Jaden was right.

Hank looked sufficiently cowed by the boy's words. Not minding that something over 20 years younger than him just told him off, he sighed. "Yeah, sorry about that...guess I just keep getting carried away. But that Magikarp is real I promise. I know it's supposed to be around this area. I figured I could use some extra heads in this so please? I can make it worth your while."

The four exchanged looks, feeling a little better about this.

Felix smiled "That's better, let's get going then."

* * *

With that said, they got to work. Hank had fishing poles to spare and they all sat by the river. Unfortunately, it didn't lead to much. Try as they might all they could find was normal Magikarp and sometimes Goldeen, even when they tried changing spots. It wasn't doing much for Hank's temper that was for sure.

Trying to ignore the man's grumbling, Lucas concentrated hard and thought back to remember if he had ever heard anything about this golden Magikarp from his dad or Professor Rowan. He suddenly recalled something the Professor told him about alternatively colored pokemon, also known as shiny pokemon. But he also said they were very rare. Maybe that was what their target was. If this was true then it would take them a good amount of luck to find that Magikarp let alone get it.

Jaden and Nicole on the other hand, weren't so lucky with tuning Hank out. Partly because a fed up Felix had already started arguing with the man about his attitude.

"I thought fishing was supposed to teach patience." Jaden remarked.

Nicole sighed "Tell me about it. No wonder he's barely found any pokemon before, they're probably too scared to come near him with all the yelling he's done."

"Yeah...guess we've gotta give him points for perseverance." Jaden remarked.

"More like points for being annoying." Felix grumbled, sitting next to him.

"In this case he'd have to be persistent." Lucas took this moment to explain what he knew about shiny pokemon.

"So Hank and his friends saw something like that..." Nicole blinked at the sound of a cry coming from the trees and looked up to see some Murkrow and Starly. "...Hey, Jaden, do you think those could be Stratos' friends?"

The boy considered the idea "Maybe." He sent the Murkrow out. "Hey, I'm not sure if you actually know each other but I figured you might want to see them or maybe just hang around?"

"Krow..." As it turned out, Stratos did know some of the pokemon so he went to talk to them, secretly surprised at his new trainer's decision. Jaden watched him with a small smile before going back to fishing.

"Aaaah! This sucks!" Felix scowled.

"Yeah..." Jaden stood. "...it's not getting us anywhere."

His friends looked at him and Felix asked if he wanted to drop this.

"Not exactly." He sent out Dante and called Stratos from the tree he was perched on. "Guys, do you think you could help us find a golden Magikarp?"

"Chim Chi Char?" Dante looked confused.

The two quickly agreed after hearing the situation. Nicole perked up "Good idea, then we'll just do that."

After a while, they'd taken to following their pokemon to any water spots to see if they could see any sign of the elusive pokemon. Stratos and Shinx, who used to live in these parts were quite familiar with the area, immensely helping the group. Without quite realizing it, hours had passed since they started the search.

The trainers were surprised to find that Shinx had actually seen their target before, as evidenced by his doubtful expression when they finished explaining and Dante questioning him. The little electric type had indeed seen the rare pokemon when he was looking for food one morning only to find two trainers crowding the pokemon. The Magkiarp was surprisingly quick and it didn't have any problem getting away from them. So Shinx doubted they would have any luck now.

It was Torchic's cry that proved him wrong.

"Guys! We found it!" Lucas called.

They all ran over. Hank grinning when he saw Torchic pointing with his beak at the golden Magikarp. He could see the trainers staring at it in awe and he couldn't blame them. He reacted the same way when he saw it the first time.

"Whoa, it really is gold..." Nicole trailed off.

"All right," Hank took out a pokeball. "Let's get things going, Electrike!"

A light green and yellow pokemon with dark brown eyes came out, its fur sparking when it saw the Magikarp.

"Thunder wave, go!"

The Magikarp's visible eye widened and it jumped out of the pool. It winced as it felt the electricity coursing in its body, restricting its movements.

Jaden looked bewildered, he understood jumping out of the pool but...If he didn't know any better, he would've thought Magikarp took the blow on purpose...

"Leer!"

This time Magikarp managed to dodge, forcing itself enough to hit Electrike with a tackle before getting back in the water. But Hank was about to call it quits, not by a long shot.

"All right, Quick attack!" He ordered.

Electrike charged at incredible speed towards Magikarp, who responded by diving in the water, forcing the pokemon to stop. "It's okay, just try it again. Now just go around this place."

Nicole realized what he was up to. Hank was trying to lure the Magikarp out to attack so they could take it out of its element. _'Looks like it worked.'_ She thought when the pokemon came out to tackle Electrike again.

"Hit it now!"

The Quick Attack ended up sending Magikarp into the air and a bit far from the pool. They quickly went over to find that the pokemon had landed near a spot where the river was running and had successfully jumped.

"No!" But the Magikarp was already gone. Hank groaned.

"Relax, man, now we know it's around here. Just a bit more effort and we're good." Felix pointed out.

"You're right, let's go!"

With that, the four hurried along the river, trying to spot Magikarp again. Jaden was about to follow them when he heard Dante calling him. The Chimchar was staring at the riverbank Magikarp had just vacated, seeming perplexed. When he noticed his trainer watching, the fire type quickly waved a hand and pointed at the water.

Curious, Jaden walked over and stopped when Dante climbed up his shoulder and pointed at the corner, where a couple of Goldeen, a Poliwag, Poliwhirl and a Staryu were. His eyes widened when his eyes landed on the eggs they were observing.

"That's why..." He muttered, bringing Dante's attention to him. "...Magikarp really did mean to take that Thunder wave. It wanted to protect the eggs."

Jaden turned to Stratos, who was calmly watching them from his perch. An idea suddenly forming in his head, he decided to ask "...Stratos, was this why you and your friends stayed? You wanted to make sure the eggs would be safe?"

"Row." The Murkrow nodded. He blinked when Jaden raised an arm but flew to it a second later. Smiling, Jaden stroked the bird's head, drawing a surprised look from him.

"That was really nice of you." Jaden said with Dante voicing his agreement after that. "I think we got a reliable friend here, huh Dante?"

"Char!" Dante beamed. He noticed something about the pokemon's behavior, how some of them were gathering in certain spots, which only meant they were looking out for the eggs in the area. Did Grovyle know? Maybe that's why he'd insisted on leading them away from one of those spots earlier...

The Poliwhirl came out of the water, glaring at the trio. "Poli Poliwhirl Whirl!"

Then in a record of bad timing, a girl with orange hair and purple eyes came along, looking interested when she saw the pokemon. "Oh, a Poliwhirl! Awesome..." She made to get a pokeball.

"Hold on, this really isn't a good time or place." Jaden cut her off.

"What do you mean..." The girl blinked when Jaden stepped to the side and motioned her to come and take a look.

"It's okay," Jaden said to the Poliwhirl. "We're not going to cause trouble. You're doing a good job there." To the girl, he added. "You get it, right? It sounds like they're really got things worked out so can you leave them be?"

"Gotcha, no problem. Good luck with that," the girl said to the Poliwhirl.

"Would you mind telling other trainers about this? We should do what we can," Jaden told her.

"Sure thing, later!" She said with a wave.

Jaden glanced at the Poliwhirl, who had finished talking to Dante and Stratos. "See? We don't mind helping, everything's fine. Good luck."

"Whirl," the pokemon nodded, waving to the three as they left. Well, it seemed the people were nicer than some of them believed.

* * *

The rest of the group followed Magikarp's trail with the river before finding out that it went into a cave on a different route. The only problem was that it was blocked by rocks.

"What now?" Nicole wondered, those rocks looked too hard to their pokemon to break.

"Aw, this is easy. Machop!" Hank tossed a pokeball and a powerful looking grey pokemon with red eyes came out. "Use Rock Smash!"

"Machop!" The pokemon hands glowed and it smashed one to the rock in front of them, destroying it immediately.

"Nice, now keep doing the same if we see any other rocks in our way." Hank received a nod and Machop started leading them into the cave.

"You think Jaden's okay? I don't see him anywhere." Nicole frowned. It had been a while, he probably didn't have any idea where they were.

"He must have gotten held up..." Lucas trailed off when Machop stopped and turned to the tunnel to their right. The sound of footsteps reached their ears then. Expecting it to be a wild pokemon, the trainers were relieved to see Jaden. "...There you are. Relax, Machop, they're with us."

"Chop." The pokemon nodded, stepping back.

"We were just wondering about you. What's going on?" Felix asked.

"I'll tell you later. Did Magikarp come this way?"

"It seems so."

Hank sighed "I don't get it. It shouldn't be able to move that much after our battle."

"I saw some Cheri berries on the ground on our way. Magikarp must have taken some." Nicole remarked.

"That's some pokemon though. Everything I read about the species says they're weak but it's pretty resilient." Lucas noted.

Hank agreed with that completely "You can say that again."

They soon reached the end of the cave and they were able to find Magikarp by the end of the river. The pokemon tensed when it noticed them, its eyes narrowed at Hank, knowing the human was the one after it.

"Let's carry on where we left off." Hank grinned, relieved and planning to make sure the pokemon wouldn't get away this time. "Machop, Karate Chop on the water!"

Machop concentrated power on its left arm before striking the water near Magikarp, causing a wave that forced the fish pokemon out. "Keep it up!" Machop managed to strike, sending Magikarp to the ground. The pokemon got up and jumped back to the water.

"Focus Energy!" Hank called.

"Maaa...chop!" Machop cried, concentrating and feeling itself power up. Magikarp took the opportunity to counter, hitting Machop with a tackle.

"Grab it and toss it down!"

A grinning Machop did just that, more than happy to take the opportunity the fish pokemon's move gave them.

"Nice!" Felix exclaimed, thinking Hank really was a good battler.

"Now finish up with Karate chop!" Hank said.

Machop struck hard, powered up by the Focus Energy and ending the fight. At Lucas' urging, Hank decided to toss a great ball.

The ball successfully took Magikarp in and after shaking for a few worrying moments, came to a complete stop.

Hank grinned widely, picking the item "All right!"

Machop cheered along with its trainer, glad to succeed.

"That's that." Lucas smiled.

"Couldn't have done it without you kids, thanks," he turned to smile at them.

"No problem."

After a moment of thought, Jaden decided to ask "Would you take Magikarp out? There's something I need to tell it."

Hank gave him a curious look "Sure why not?"

The shiny pokemon came out a second later, looking at the humans and pokemon watching it. Jaden walked up to it and took out a Sitrus berry from his bag. He bent on a knee and offered it to the pokemon. "That was a cool thing you did there. We saw the eggs." Magikarp's eyes widened at this. "Don't worry, they're all right. The others are looking after them. I thought you might want this."

"Magi..." Magikarp was relieved to hear it. The kid seemed sincere in its opinion so it took the berry in its mouth and chewed, relishing the delicious taste. "Magikarp!" It said gratefully, smiling when Jaden patted its head. This human wasn't so bad. He really did care even with Magikarp not being his pokemon.

Dante and Stratos exchanged a look and smiled, feeling happy to be with such a kind trainer.

The rest were rightfully confused.

"I'm missing something here. What eggs?" Hank asked.

Jaden told them about their find back in the pool, both humans and their pokemon stared at him in shock.

"Oh, that's why..."

"Aw, darn...now I feel like a jerk." Hank looked at Magikarp. "Sorry about that. It really was a cool thing you did."

"Yeah, the eggs and the pokemon are safe because of you." Nicole said and Lucas nodded.

"You're one tough cookie, nice going." Felix added.

"Magikarp!" The pokemon nodded, looking embarrassed at the praise. It hadn't' stayed here for long but those pokemon were doing a good thing and Magikarp wanted to help them. It was happy to see that the group felt the same. Magikarp's trainer was a good person. That was enough for it.

* * *

Soon they left the cave and were back at the route where they started the search. Hank had surprised his four new friends by offering them gifts for their help when they stopped at his fishing spot, taking a bag out of a tree bark nearby.

"You really didn't have to do that." Nicole said.

"Nah, I think I do. You really were big help and I know I can be a pain to deal with sometimes." He countered, getting somethings out of the bag.

"You said you're going for contests, right? Then you'll need this."

Her eyes widened at the item "Is that a poffin case?!"

"Yup, I got it back when I won the competition in the Jubilife TV station but I figure you can make better use of it than I would. Go on, take it."

Nicole couldn't help the smile on her face then. She'd been hoping to get one ever since she set out but she wasn't sure where to find them. "Awesome, thanks Hank!"

He chuckled at her joy and turned to Lucas "And you, my friend, are getting three of my special lures." He held the second item which was a small box. "One of them helped me find Magikarp. You can land your own lucky catch with this, guaranteed."

"Yeah, this'll be a big help, thanks!" Lucas said.

"Glad to hear it. Now..." Hank picked up two more items, Lucas and Felix's eyes widened when thet recognized them while Nicole looked confused and Jaden was curious. "...since I hear you're going for gyms, how about you try this? I figure the your pokemon can find this useful."

"Those are TMs." Lucas explained helpfully. "Technical Machines, they can teach a pokemon move if its compatible with it. You can even use it more than once. I think those are fighting and grass type moves."

"Yeah, you're pretty knowledgeable. Those are Power-up Punch and Solarbeam." Hank informed. "Going to face gyms can't be easy, so here's something of a little boost. Use it right and I bet you'll cream them."

Jaden took the first TM and smiled "That's real nice. Thanks a lot, Hank."

"Yeah, this is brilliant!" Felix grinned, taking the second.

"Heh, no problem. Now good luck out there."

After saying goodbye to the man, the four trainers and their pokemon went their way too, intending to settle down for the night. And what a day they had but there was no doubt in their minds that the best had yet to come.


	4. Chapter 4

Having split up after arriving in Oreburgh City, Jaden had spent a good amount of time training with Dante and Stratos in a somewhat isolated spot near the quarry.

He'd only started a few days ago but Jaden felt that they were progressing well enough. Felix had given him some tips about battling and they had battled a bunch of trainers on the way. It was safe to say he was getting used to battling, Dante and Stratos were gaining some good experience too.

The Chimchar had been happy to learn Power Up Punch, now being used to it. Jaden watched Stratos soar before the sound of footsteps brought his attention to the ground.

An Eevee was watching the three of them from a rock nearby, covered well enough by the surroundings.

"Hi there." Jaden stroked its head, getting a smile from the formerly surprised pokemon.

"Vee!"

"We're just training...but I guess it's obvious." Jaden said with a glance at his pokemon.

It was but the Eevee didn't mind. The evolution pokemon seemed genuinely interested in watching their work. It watched Jaden go to his team and offer them some praise and encouraging words as he gave them both potions to replenish their health. The Murkrow seemed a little scary to the little pokemon but the Chimchar certainly seemed friendly, either Eevee could tell that they liked their trainer.

* * *

"Nice work, you two. You've really got that Power Up Punch nailed, Dante."

"Char!" Dante grinned.

Jaden stood "How about we get a break? You two are doing great but I'm sure you could use the rest."

The duo evidently agreed, because they sat on his shoulders. Jaden blinked and looked around, seeing no sign of the Eevee "? Where..."

"Row?" Stratos cocked his head.

"Oh, ah, it's nothing..."

"Sure seems like you're working hard." A new voice said.

Jaden blinked and turned out around to see a young man with dark red hair and matching eyes wearing glasses and a miner's outfit watching them. "So are you getting ready to face the Oreburgh gym?"

"Er, kinda?" Jaden said sheepishly. "It hasn't been that long since I started my journey so I'll just take it slowly and not overwork my pokemon. We'll just have to try when we all agree that we're ready."

"So you're respectful of your pokemon's feelings. That's a good trait." The young man gave an approving nod. "To each their own. If you keep up the hard work then you'll definitely be good to go."

"Thanks."

"Chimchar!" Dante chimed in.

"So, you work here too? Some of the miners were talking about a special find in Canalave city but I keep wondering what that's about..." Jaden admitted.

"Canalave's gym leader is an expert miner. He started out here actually. Real passionate too, he could work for hours on end without a pause. The big find is a special Anorith fossil. You wouldn't believe the size of it. We could find various treasures underground but fossils are the rarest."

Jaden blinked "No wonder it's a big deal..."

"Yup, somehow I'm not surprised he found it either. He works harder than most..." The young man trailed off.

"So is it true that you can resurrect pokemon from fossils here?" Jaden asked curiously, remembering something Lucas had told him.

"Sure is, the machine's right in the museum actually. You should go take a look around there while you're still in town." The young man suggested.

"Maybe I will. Thanks, ah..." Jaden blinked, realizing he didn't know the man's name.

"It's Roark." He said, preceding the unasked question. "Tell you what, if you ever find a fossil, look me up and I'll help."

"Sure, if I'm ever that lucky, but thanks again."

Roark just smiled "Well, don't let me keep you. A word of advice, working hard's good but don't forget to let them relax and unwind every now and then."

Jaden watched him leave for a moment "He's sure nice, huh?"

Dante nodded with a smile.

"Now let's go."

* * *

Arthur wandered around the city with a bored look "Man, I thought Niki or even Jaden would have made it by now. Guess there really was no point in staying here."

As they had predicted, Arthur had come about 2 days before them and started training. He had defeated the gym leader with a big help from Turtwig and continued. They had to battle a number of trainers later, which made him decide to take his pokemon to the center for some rest.

Turtwig, who had been idly walking near him then, stopped when he saw a familiar figure in the pokemart and went for a closer look.

* * *

"You're a new trainer, right?" The store clerk asked Jaden as he continued to look around the shop. Jaden gave her a curious look but nodded. "I've seen trainers let their pokemon decide what food they like. It seems to work most of the time."

"Ah, thank you. I didn't think of that..." Jaden had been trying to find new pokemon food since it didn't seem like his pokemon had liked what he picked last time but he couldn't seem to make up his mind.

He let them out and was about to explain when he saw a pokemon walk in the store. "You're..."

Turtwig looked at the three and smiled before walking over. Dante perked up and waved cheerfully at his friend.

"Hey, so you were the Turtwig from the museum." Jaden acknowledged, picking the pokemon up. Turtwig responded by nuzzling his face to Jaden's, getting a laugh out of the boy. "But wait a minute, if you're here..."

His thought was proven to be true when Arthur called "Hey, so it was you!"

"So you've been around here long enough to train and beat the gym?"

"Sure have! Just having Turtwig made it great and easy!" Arthur declared proudly. "Heracross just creamed his opponents and he helped me come through with the gym leader."

Jaden blinked at the vaguely familiar name "Heracross, that's..."

"Oh, you've never seen one? Trust me, it's like one of the coolest bug types ever. Check it," Arthur tossed a pokeball and out came a blue beetle around half his height with a long horn and dark eyes.

"Let's see..." Jaden trailed off, raising the pokedex.

 **"Heracross, the Single Horn pokemon. This powerful Pokémon thrusts its prized horn under its enemies' bellies, then lifts and throws them."** The machine said in its monotone voice.

The pokemon blinked curiously at its surroundings before looking at Jaden when he spoke "Hey there, Heracross, seems like you're a tough battler."

"Hera!" Heracross raised an arm in acknowledgment.

"So now that you bring that up, how about a battle? I've never seen you fight besides that day in the museum." Arthur suggested.

"Then you're just going to have to wait longer."

"Aw, come on, man!"

"We've been training for a good amount of the day and we need to take a break." Jaden informed.

Sighing, Arthur just decided to try something else. Putting on a smug look, he said "Oh, I get it. I wouldn't blame you for being scared of losing. You guys probably just fought weak trainers this whole time and we beat a gym leader. They're not exactly easy, you know. Yeah, I guess we'll spare you the defeat and drop it."

This ticked Dante off and the Chimchar wasted no time in snapping at the boy, ignoring Stratos's attempt to calm him down.

"Well, it's true. I'm just doing you a favor and you're being ungrateful. Boy am I glad I picked Turtwig, I don't want to think of what would have happened if I got a pa..."

"That's enough." A fed up Jaden cut him off. It was one thing to put up with persistence but he could easily see where this was going and he wasn't going to have it.

"You want a battle? Then let's get this over with."

"That's more like it!"

* * *

They decided to have a double battle near the pokemon center since Jaden had already been planning to go there.

Arthur gave a cocky grin as he stood behind Turtwig and Heracross. "About time, you haven't see anything I can do the other day so here we go! Turtwig, Razor Leaf! And Heracross, Horn attack."

"Okay, guys, jump!" Jaden commanded and his pokemon were high above their opponents the next second.

"Heracross, Fury Attack!"

Jaden waited a few moments before calling out "Feint Attack!"

Arthur stiffened in surprise when Stratos vanished just before Heracross could strike and reappeared behind him to deliver the strike that sent him spiraling down.

"Dante, use Ember!"

Grinning, Dante jumped up and unleashed the attack which successfully hit both opponents.

"No way!"

"Wing Attack, now!"

Arthur grit his teeth as Turtwig was hit "Use Brick Break!" He smirked when Stratos was sent reeling. "Now Turtwig, use Bite!"

"Ember, once more!" Jaden retorted.

"Turtwig, use Razor Leaf! Heracross, Brick Break!"

The first move struck but Arthur was annoyed when the pokemon quickly moved after it, "In that case, use Leech Seed!"

"Dante, Swift!" The golden shower of stars came later than Jaden expected but it still helped protect his pokemon. "All right, Stratos, Night Shade."

Heracross cringed as it was hit by a black energy beam. Arthur wasn't ready to call it quits though "Turtwig..."

He stopped, because Jaden surprised him by returning his pokemon. "Hey, what're you doing? We're not done yet!"

"Yes, we are." The boy stated. "I have to go."

"Coward!"

A girl with sable brown hair and green eyes had watched the entire battle from one of the center's windows. She let out a breath, turning in time to see Jaden going past her then. "Oh, good, he did notice..."

Turtwig had a relieved expression on its face as well.

"I can't believe him! That was pathetic! He was totally scared to lose."

"Turtwig!" The grass pokemon felt annoyed with its trainer. It wasn't anything like that! "Tur Tur Wig! Wi Wig!"

"What's with you?! It's the truth!" Arthur insisted, blinking when Turtwig scowled at him and went to the center. "Hey!"

* * *

"I get it." Nurse Joy responded after she listened to Jaden's explanation. "Yes, you did push them too hard but you also did something about it. Don't worry, you made the right call."

"We wouldn't be here like this if I did."

She smiled and shook her head. The pink haired woman had seen a bunch of cases like this, trainers rushing things to gain strength only to find that certain methods did only more harm than good. It was easy to see how awful Jaden felt about this so she wasn't worried about him.

"Your pokemon will be just fine, don't worry. Give it a little while and they'll be ready to see you. If you hadn't done that, then things could have likely gotten worse. I can tell how much you care for them. You're still learning so it's understandable. What's important is that you know what you did wrong so you can avoid it in the future. I'm sure they know that too."

"Thanks..."

"Why don't you go and get a little rest yourself? I'll tell you when their treatment is finished."

* * *

Jaden had been surprised when he saw Eevee again as it was about to leave the center. The pokemon was happy to see him as it decided to follow him to the room he currently stayed in.

Though he never knew what to expect when it came to this journey, it was never this. He couldn't believe he messed up like that, he knew most of all how hard his pokemon worked. But he let Arthur get to him when he had actually intended on stopping the boy from badmouthing Dante.

This wasn't fair to them...

"Ee Vee?"

Jaden started at the voice and saw Eevee waiting near the bed, just realizing that the pokemon had come after him. "Oh, I didn't see you."

Eevee nuzzled his hand, wondering why he seemed upset now. "Vee Vee Uei?" It pointed to the part of his bag that held his pokeballs.

"We've been training hard now but I let my temper get the better of me." Jaden frowned. "They were already tired but it could've gotten so much worse. I feel awful, those two were already pushing themselves to the limit. I wouldn't be surprised if they're mad at me."

Now, Eevee understood. Jaden was worried about his pokemon, it could tell how much he cared for them. The Eevee jumped to his lap with a pout, before patting the boy's cheek.

Jaden smiled a bit "You're trying to help me, huh? Thanks..."

"Vee!"

After a moment of thought, the blond got his sketchbook out and flipped through the pages until he got to his latest drawing. It was one of the three starters. He hadn't had a chance to really work on it with the paintings he got immersed into a while back but it still felt nice to stop and do this now and then. He found it much easier to finish now that he had met the pokemon who were the subjects of his work. As he became focused on his work, Jaden missed Eevee watching him curiously.

It was times like this that he got to really calm down and reflect on things. Dante and Stratos had been working hard lately and he decided to treat them for it. Together they had won a good share of the battles they had on the way to this city, during which Dante learned Swift and Fury Swipes and Stratos learned Sucker Punch and Roost. He also had some double battles and while he lost an amount of them, the experience helped. Now he had a good idea about combinations.

They were coming quite nicely as a team and Jaden knew that he couldn't have asked for better partners...

"Wig!" A voice cut in his thoughts and he saw Turtwig at the room's door. The little starter perked up and went to Jaden.

"Oh hey, what're you doing here?"

"Turtwig wi?" The pokemon tilted his head, looking around the room.

It wasn't too hard to guess what, or rather who Turtwig had in mind. "They're resting up. I didn't realize how much they needed that until the battle but then you already knew , right?"

The pokemon nodded. Jaden put down his book and picked him up. "Thanks for coming. It's nice of you."

Turtwig smiled and nuzzled its face to the boy's, getting him to smile. Jaden stroked him head, and the grass type let out a happy sigh at the gentle touch. He was starting to really understand why Chimchar liked Jaden.

* * *

Jaden picked up his pokeballs before letting his team out. Dante and Stratos blinked curiously at their surroundings before noticing their trainer and smiling at him.

This, while good, didn't make him feel any better. "Hey, guys, you're looking better already."

The pokemon confirmed, showing that they have recovered well.

"I'm really sorry." Jaden began, his pokemon looked surprised at this. "You've been working so hard and I'd already planned to give you a break. I let Arthur get to me even when I should have known better and you're the ones who had to pay for it. I won't let that happen again but..."

He never got to finish because Stratos had chosen that moment to fly to his shoulder and Dante took advantage of Jaden's surprise by jumping to his arms. The starter then rubbed his face to his trainer's with a smile. This showed how much Jaden cared about them. Dante knew he had gotten all fired up and eager to battle too. Stratos had been less so, but he still went along with it so neither pokemon thought they were blameless. Besides, how could they be hold it against Jaden when he clearly felt so guilty about it all?

Easy, they couldn't.

Jaden looked at Dante, who gave him a bright smile and Stratos, who grinned back. He found himself smiling as well moments later. "...Thanks a lot, you two."

Eevee watched the whole thing with a bright smile.

* * *

They had stopped to eat with Turtwig and Chimchar catching up, while a re-run of a contest caught Jaden's eye. He couldn't help but wonder what entering one would be like...

A piece of paper fell near Dante, attracting his attention. The curious pokemon picked it up, finding a drawing of an off white and brown dress with matching boots. He then saw a looking for something.

"Chimchar?" Dante lifted the paper. The psychic type smiled and nodded, taking the drawing back.

" ?" The brown haired girl entered the hall. Her face lit up a second later. "Oh, you found it. Thanks!"

"Mime Mime!" The pokemon beamed, giving her the paper.

The girl had turned the paper around as she made it to put it away, letting Jaden see it.

"Hey, that looked nice."

The girl stiffened in surprise for moments before looking at him. "Y-you think so?"

"Sure," he gave her a curious look. "You've been working hard on it too."

"How can you tell?"

"It's really detailed."

"I try," the girl answered sheepishly, her Mime. Jr mimicking her a moment later. "But I've still got a way to go...this is just a drabble." She glanced at the portfolio in her arms. "Actually, they all are, I guess."

"Well, everyone's got to start somewhere. You sure look like you've gone way past that."

"Th-thanks..."

"Chimchar Chim!" Dante grinned, looking from the portfolio to Jaden and then the girl.

Jaden smiled "Yeah, yeah, I know." The girl looked confused. "What he's trying to say is that I can tell this much because I've got some artwork of my own around."

"Oh really? Can you show me?"

"Wow..." The girl said, trying not to gape. "I'm pretty sure you've heard this before but you're really, really good!"

"Thanks, it's just something I ended up doing." Jaden smiled, taking the sketchbook back. Somehow they ended up talking amiably in a matter of minutes. "So, you want to be a stylist, Carmen?"

"Yeah." She said with a shrug. "I've realized it recently, it's pretty much my end goal. If you saw the younger me and tell her she'd grow up to like fashion, she'd ask if you were hit on the head, you know?"

The boy chuckled and Carmen continued "But mainly I've been super psyched to start my journey. So Mom gave me and I've been on my way since. I'm a Coordinator and you?"

"Well, I've never had a chance to try a contest but I'm definitely interested. Did you win any ribbons?"

"Yup!" She took out her ribbon case, showing a purple and white ribbon. "Ta-da!"

"Mime Mime!" Mime. Jr smiled, doing the same motion.

"So I've seen your battle with that big mouth before." Carmen started.

Jaden blinked, realizing she meant Arthur.

"Ah, it's okay, you did good if you ask me, I was worried you wouldn't notice your pokemons' state. I thought you guys were pretty decent. I would've said more if it wasn't for the ending."

"Thanks anyway." Jaden stroked Dante's head. "I'm really going to work to keep our own pace now. It worked out pretty well so far."

Carmen gave an approving nod, watching return the pokemon to their pokeballs. "That's the way to go. So you interested in taking a look around the city with me later?"

"Sure."

* * *

The next day...

As Carmen was leaving the pokemon center, she noticed the commotion around the mines. Curious, she walked over and tapped a man's shoulder.

"Say, what's going on?"

The man looked at her and responded "A bunch of punks snuck up on the miners and trapped them inside the mines. Apparently, most of them lost to Roark before so now they're all demanding that he hand over the gym to them or they'll destroy the mines."

"That's nuts!"

"Tell me about it." He shook his head. "Thing is, I'm not sure what we can do. Some of the best trainers in the city are trapped now and I'm pretty sure I heard them saying something about their boss dealing with Roark right now..."

Carmen scowled. "Well, then I'll take things into my hands." She sent out Mime. Jr and a pink Shellos before yelling. "Hey! Which one of you creeps wants to deal with me first?!"

* * *

"I still can't believe you challenged them like that." Arthur admitted, they'd run into each other just moments after Carmen's outcry since the boy was fighting one of the punks too. "I don't know if I'd call that brave or downright reckless."

"Yeah, well someone needs to something." She replied irritably as a Machop and Houndour faced her.

One of the punks, who wore a black and grey leather jacket with an Arbok emblem just like the rest of his friends, smirked and called "Machop, Karate Chop! Houndour, Fire Fang!"

"Shellos, Water Pulse now!" Carmen countered.

The little water type nailed them both with the blue sphere that sent them back. "Mime Jr, hit Machop with Confusion and Shellos take Houndour out with another Water Pulse!"

"N-no way!" The punk gasped as he saw his party members fall in defeat while Carmen smirked.

"You're way out of your league! Turtwig, use Bite!" Arthur commanded.

Turtwig jumped out of the charging Shinx's way before biting its tail and going into a spin before tossing the electric type aside.

"You brats!" Another one grumbled. "Koffing, get that Turtwig with Sludge!"

"As if! Stop it in its tracks with Razor leaf!" Arthur responded at once, with the flurry of sharp leaves hitting before it could attack. "Nice, now finish it up with another Bite!"

Turtwig landed after the attacks hit and grinned when he saw that the poison type was knocked out.

Most of the punks were understandably unnerved when they saw how they were losing.

"Oh, man..."

"Who are those kids?!"

"This was supposed to be easy!"

"It will be! Houndour, get those brats!"

Both Arthur and Carmen stiffened in surprise when the three pokemon charged at them. Turtwig, Mime. Jr and Shellos immediately turned back to them but they were too far to help.

Suddenly, a black blur flew through the air and struck all the three Houndours, knocking them back.

"Who did that?!" Their owner demanded, recognizing the move as a Sucker Punch. She saw a Murkrow landing on a boy's arm. "You!"

Carmen smiled "Jaden!"

Turtwig perked up "Turtwig!"

"What're you doing here, coward?" Arthur scowled.

The girl glared at him. "You mean besides bailing us out, genius?"

"I don't need help from someone like him! He'll just slow us down."

The owner of the Houndours smirked "Hear that, brat? If you leave now, I'll forget about this intervention."

"How about no?" Jaden responded coolly while his pokemon glared back. "And if you're going to listen to some baseless accusations about what our abilities then I'm willing to fight back as much as it takes."

"Yeah, right." Arthur scoffed. "He's just trying to show off."

"Back off, Vivica." One of the punks stepped up. "I'll take him on."

"You, Rodrick? I feel sorry for the kid already." The woman replied with the same smirk.

"So, you still willing to back up those tough words?" Rodrick asked.

"I'm still here aren't I?"

Jaden's response made him chuckle "That you are, follow me. By that I mean all three of you."

Rodrick took the three young trainers to a large space not too far from the mines, two of his group. "They'll be battling my buddies here. But you, kid, you're interesting. So I'll be handling you."

"He doesn't stand a chance." One of his apparent lackeys said.

"For once I agree." Arthur grumbled. "If we rely on him then we're done."

Turtwig frowned and jumped in front of his trainer "Turtwig wig!"

"Chi Chim Chimchar!" Dante snapped while Stratos scowled at Arthur.

This was the breaking point for Carmen "Would you lay off?! I saw your battle yesterday and you should be glad he quit because it was bad for you. The only reason Jaden gave up the battle in the first place was because he could see that Dante and Stratos were worn out from the training and he didn't want them to get hurt anymore than they already did!"

All words died in Arthur's throat at this information and he looked at Jaden, whose attention was currently focused on his own pokemon, who had spent the last minute glaring at Arthur.

"Come on, you two we have to concentrate. I told you, I don't regret what I did yesterday and I'd do it again if I had to. If it makes me a coward then I don't care. Remember, it's because of that training that we got this far, you ready to go?"

The two smiled.

"Chimchar!"

"Murkrow!"

If anyone had looked at Rodrick at that moment, they would've seen that he was watching Jaden with a glimmer of respect in his eyes. The man didn't agree with his friends' plans and was forced into this situation. But he aimed to get stronger just like they did, he could certainly respect someone trying to protect their pokemon.

"Seeing as our boss is already dealing with Roark, we'll just take it up to this. If you three win, we'll leave the city. If you lose, you do." He stated.

"And we'll be taking all your money!" One of his lackeys added.

"You're not getting your hands on anything. We're ready when you are!" Carmen declared, getting a nod from Jaden then.

"Then, Machoke, Geodude, here you go!" Rodrick called out, with the two pokemon appearing before him a moment later.

His lackeys sent out a Magnemite and a Quagsire before sneering at their opponents.

"Getting back on track, get the lead out, kid! We'll be having a double battle." Rodrick called, smirking when Dante and Stratos faced his pokemon. "Machoke, Karate Chop and Geodude, Rock Tomb!"

"Dante, quick use Swift!" Jaden responded. Dante sprang into action and assaulted the two with the wave of golden stars that stopped them attacking.

"Not bad but not good enough..." Rodrick began.

"Now Stratos!" Jaden cut him off.

He started, then noticing the Murkrow flying above his pokemon. Dante smirked as the dark type unleashed a Screech attack that had their opponents reeling.

Rodrick raised an eye. So the kid knew his way around double battles then? "I knew you were interesting, kid. But enough of that, Machoke, use Karate Chop and Geodude, Mega Punch!"

"Dante, stop Geodude with Power Up Punch! Stratos use Night Shade on Machoke!"

"Use Vital Throw!"

Rodrick smirked when he saw Dante slammed into the ground. "Now Geodude, stop that Murkrow in its tracks with Rock Tomb!"

Jaden noticed that almost all the rocks were coming from Stratos's left so he had the darkness pokemon attempt to fly to safety. When one came too close, Jaden had an idea and made use of Feint Attack's timing to let Stratos dodge.

"Power Up Punch!"

The man was caught off guard again when he saw Dante strike Machoke in the back before flipping back. Dammit, he really needed to stop underestimating this kid.

"All right then, Rock Tomb, again. And Machoke, get'em with Brick break!" Rodrick ordered.

The rocks were coming in faster than before so Jaden could only think of one thing.

"Stratos, Night Shade!"

This counter blasted a good amount of them down but Dante and Stratos couldn't move away fast enough to dodge the rest.

"Are you all right?" Jaden asked. His pokemon stood however, still determined and not wanting to leave their trainer any cause for concern.

* * *

"Sonic boom, and keep it going!" The first lackey ordered.

Arthur yelped when the wave hit Turtwig and quickly said "Hurry and use Withdraw!"

Turtwig managed to retreat to his shell before the rest of the waves hit, minimizing the damage. The lackey sneered before ordering a Metal Sound.

"Shellos, no!" Carmen said when her pokemon had been slammed by Quagsire.

"Just give up, little girl." Her opponent advised.

"Magnemite, use Shock wave, once more!" The first lackey called.

"Like that'll work again. Razor leaf, go!" Arthur commanded.

"Wig!" Turtwig grunted, nailing the steel type with his attack.

"Hit 'em hard with Rock smash!" Arthur smirked when the attack worked. "Yes, now that's some good damage! Do it again!'

"Shellos, use tackle!" Carmen said.

"Try harder!" Her opponent taunted. "Quagsire, Mega Punch!"

Carmen smirked "Duck!"

"Shell!" Shellos lowered its head at the last second before Carmen proceeded to order an Ice beam attack. The close proximity caused Quagsire's feet to be frozen solid.

"Wrap it up with Water Pulse, full blast!"

"No!" Quagsire's trainer gasped when he saw his pokemon collapse.

"Oh yeah! Way to go Shellos!" Carmen cheered.

"Shellos!" The pokemon smiled at her.

"Geodude, use Rock Tomb! Machoke, Mega Kick!" Rodrick snapped.

"Stop Geodude with Night Shade!" Jaden responded at once, the rock and ground type cringed at the move. "Dante, dodge the kick and use Power Up Punch!"

"Char!" Dante smirked when his fist met Machoke's face, feeling a bit stronger again.

"Geodude, use..." Rodrick froze when Jaden had Stratos use up another Screech making Geodude freeze in its tracks because of the pain.

"Now give it your best shot of Wing Attack and Power Up Punch!"

This proved too much for their opponents who then fell back, having fainted.

"N-no way!" Rodrick's lackeys gasped.

"All right, they won!" Carmen cheered with Shellos and Turtwig cheering as well.

Jaden let out a sigh of relief before both his pokemon came, making him smile as they shared a hug. "You were great, both of you." The two beamed at him before Dante patted his shoulder.

* * *

"Now you better keep your word." Arthur warned their opponents.

"Not like we have a choice," the lackey said, acknowledging the police officers that were coming then. They had ensured no interference from the group by threatening them with the miners' lives but in no way did they expect to lose to the young trainers.

"Hey, it's Roark!" Arthur said when he noticed the young man approaching them.

"Nice work, all of you. By the time I got here, you were already taking care of things." He praised, making them smile.

"So you beat their boss, right? What about the miners?" Carmen wanted to know.

"All good." He said with a smile. "Only this did hold me up, sorry you had to take care of this but I'm grateful you went through such trouble to defend my gym."

"Ah, don't sweat it. Nothing good would've come out of this if we had done nothing."

Jaden was about to agree with her but then he noticed something odd. "Wait, your gym? But that means..."

Roark seemed confused for a moment but he chuckled then "Right, right, we never did get to that yesterday. I'm the Oreburgh gym leader."

"Hold up, as in you guys know each other?" Carmen asked.

"Yup, I wondered what you were like in battle after watching that trainer and I have to say I'm impressed." Roark said. "You're all talented for your age."

"Thanks!" The three replied in tandem.

"There he is, mommy!" A girl called out.

"Aha," the woman behind her said. For a moment Arthur and Carmen thought she was looking at Roark, but the little girl was smiling and waving at Jaden.

"Chim Char!" Dante waved back.

The girl smiled at the starter before speaking "Hi! Jaden, right? I wanted to thank you for saving me from those mean Houndour."

"That's for sure." When seeing the curious looks directed at her, the woman explained. "My name is Reina and this is my daughter Ellen. Back then, when the three Houndour were going to attack, one of them was going to lunge at Elly and I was too far to do anything. Your friend pushed her out of the way and stopped them just in time."

"Yup, that was really cool!" Ellen beamed at Jaden, who smiled and patted her head.

"I'm glad you're okay. Things worked out pretty well."

"I'll say." Carmen smiled at the boy, once more impressed by him.

"Vee!" Eevee poked its head out from behind Reina, waving a paw at Jaden.

The boy smiled "Oh there you are, you didn't get caught in this mess, right?"

Eevee shook its head, smiling.

"Oh, I remember that time you came to the gym." Roark mused. This pokemon had been around for a while but it rarely got close to the people. He figured it was pretty much a free spirit. "So you like staying with Jaden, girl?"

"Ee vee!" The pokemon nodded, beaming. When she watched Jaden with his pokemon, she could really see that the boy was a caring trainer and she liked that. Those three looked really cool when they helped everyone too!

"Aw, that's so cute! You gotta catch her, Jaden!" Carmen chirped.

"? You really want to come with us?" He asked, receiving a nod. A moment later, Jaden smiled. "All right then..."

He took out a pokeball and enlarged it, Eevee pressed her nose against the button. The ball opened and took it in, it didn't even shake once before the successful ding that announced the capture came.

Jaden released her before gathering her in his arms "Good to have you around, Eevee."

"Vee Vee!" The pokemon squealed, nuzzling her face to his.

* * *

"Heeey! Wait a second!"

Startled, Jaden turned around to see Carmen running up to him. "I'm so glad I caught you. I was going to ask if we can travel together. I'm really starting to like you all and I get the feeling it'll be loads of fun."

Jaden smiled "That sounds good, Carmen."

"All right!"


	5. Chapter 5

"Mime..."

Carmen patted the upset pokemon on the head "Don't worry, that wasn't your fault. I just got carried away and messed up. That's why it got away."

She, Jaden and their pokemon had stopped in a small clearing after Carmen had seen a Ponyta and hurried after the pokemon in her excitement. Unfortunately, she had underestimated the pokemon in her haste and Ponyta had run off after getting a couple of critical hits on Mime. Jr.

The two saw Jaden sitting on a tree stump, brushing Leora's fur. The newly nicknamed Eevee sighed contently upon feeling the brush's strokes while Jaden gave a bemused look "So you like that?"

Leora trilled happily in answer and Dante jumped on Jaden's shoulder. The boy just laughed "I know, I know, you're next."

The chimp pokemon grinned.

"You know for someone who just started out, you're going good." Carmen remarked.

"You think? I hope you're right. It's just a few things I picked out, hanging with Elekid helped too..."

She blinked "You have an Elekid?"

"No, I became friends with her back in Jubilife City. I'm not sure where Elekid is now but I learned a bunch about pokemon from her too."

"Hey, that sounds nice. You are a trainer now, maybe you'll get to catch her."

"Who knows. I'd like that though..." Jaden trailed off. "...so how'd it go?"

Carmen and Mime. Jr sighed. "Don't ask." The former said.

"Ah..." Well, that was answer enough. "...There's always next time."

Carmen ran a hand through her hair "...Wait, where's Shellos?"

"Just behind those bushes." Jaden pointed at said direction. "I think she made a new friend, actually."

Shellos was currently watching a Machop practicing attacks on a tree. Shellos had gotten attracted to this area due to the racket Machop was making and found the fighting type in an intense training session. She continued to observe the hard working pokemon curiously, deciding not to interrupt again for all Machop had confessed was that he was training to beat a certain someone. The water type was about to try asking something when she heard a voice calling.

"Machop?" The boy had dark green, almost black colored hair and light blue eyes. He was Carmen's age and currently seemed relieved and exasperated.

"There you are!" The fighting type glanced at the boy before turning back to his training. "I should have known you were back to this. I told you we were leaving once I wrapped things up at home, right?"

Machop grunted, sparing him an unimpressed look. The boy's eye twitched. "Don't give me that! There's no point in staying here and you know it!"

For some reason this seemed to annoy Machop, which showed with how he glared at the boy before turning away.

"Well, this is some pokemon..." A newly arrived Carmen trailed off. Shellos perked up at the sight of the brunette, who waved. "...hey, girl." The two looked at the boy. "What's going on?"

* * *

The boy introduced himself as Erik, admitting upon questioning that he was trying to talk sense into his pokemon. Machop was generally obedient and friendly but he started giving Erik a hard time recently and was really insistent on training in this area. This understandably confused the two but they understood from Erik that Machop wouldn't explain himself. Still, they couldn't help but wonder why.

"You said you're getting ready to leave, so that means you're on a journey?" Carmen questioned.

"Y-yeah..." Erik looked uncomfortable. "...ah, enough about me. You two are traveling, right? What're your goals?"

Jaden raised an eye at his behavior but decided to play along "Well, I want to enter the Sinnoh League. Our first gym battle will be in Eterna City."

"And I'm planning to enter the Floaroma Contest." Carmen added. "For me, it's ace coordinator now, stylist later."

"Oh...that's nice." Erik said at last. "I can barely get anything started with Machop being so hard headed and just training this way."

"You know, usually people would take this willingness to train as a good thing."

He sighed at Jaden's point "You don't know what that's like. Machop barely listens to me now and he always wears himself out in the end."

The fighting type in question scowled at him, only to be distracted when Dante offered him some pokemon food which he took with gratitude.

"So basically Machop's attitude is getting in your plans' ways, huh? We can help you." Carmen suggested.

Erik looked surprised "You sure? I don't want to get in the way..."

"We're offering, so you wouldn't be." The girl pointed out.

"Sure, why not? We can figure things out together." Jaden added.

Erik smiled "Thanks..."

* * *

To get things started, they decide to start with a battle between Machop and Shellos. The two pokemon were glad to agree to the idea and got into a heated battle. In the end, Shellos lost but the tenacious water type seemed to have gained Machop's respect as she gave it everything she had.

The battle seemed to have done some good as Machop had somewhat relaxed now. Carmen used a Super Potion on her pokemon before looking at Machop "You're tough, I can see all the training is doing good."

The fighting type smiled and nodded thankfully at the praise. He wasn't sure about this but those new comers really were trying to help so he would trust them.

"So Machop, are you just really used to training here or something? You don't seem to want to leave." Jaden remarked.

Machop shook his head, and they understood that it wasn't the problem. But then he shot Erik an irritated look, he should have known Erik hadn't told them everything. What really got on the fighting type's nerves was that Erik knew exactly why Machop insisted to stay here.

The green haired boy scowled "What's with that look? You know, I didn't want to do it this way but I've had it. You're coming even if I have to..."

"Okay, calm down." Carmen intervened, knowing that this was likely to get worse. "What's the problem exactly?"

Jaden saw his pokemon talking to Machop for a bit before Dante looked at Erik. Stratos called out to Jaden and pointed between the two, letting out a few chirps and giving Erik a pointed look.

This served to confirm the rising suspicion the boy had about Erik "...You know, I can understand keeping secrets. But if you really do want help, you need to tell us everything."

Erik and Carmen looked surprised. The latter looked back at the former "Okay, explain."

The boy sighed "Fine...after we left home, we started training and battling. I thought we were doing pretty good but then I ran into some trainers who were hurrying to a Center. One of them told me how this guy from school, Dylan and some of his cronies were blocking one of paths to the next route. Apparently, they force all trainers to battle and they take their money if they lose. That guy said they let some trainers pass but only if they pay them a lot. So, I found another path and..."

"Wait, what?" Carmen frowned. "You're not even going to try and face that jerk?"

Erik looked alarmed at the possibility "W-what? No way! I can't stand up to him...he bugged me and my friends in school a lot. You don't know what it's been like..."

"Maybe not but I do know one thing, that guy's a bully. You can't just leave things this way, no wonder Machop wouldn't leave. He wants you to stand up for yourself!" The girl pointed out.

The fighting type nodded at once, showing that Carmen was right on the money.

"But I can't!" From Erik's insistence, it sounded like he had been scared of this boy for quite some time now. "We're only stuck here because Machop's so stubborn, that's all!"

"You can try to do something about this." Jaden stated, with the pokemon agreeing firmly. "It sounds like you've been avoiding this a lot but this can't go on. They'll just walk all over you like this."

"Who's not to say they haven't already?" Carmen said harshly.

Erik winced "But I'll lose! There's no point!"

"Aren't you just making up excuses now?" Jaden questioned.

"Exactly, no more of that, Mr.! We're going to get started now." Carmen stated before grabbing Erik's arm. "Let's get to work!"

Jaden watched her drag the boy away, ignoring his reluctance. Bemused, he looked at Machop "Well, you ready to go?"

The fighting type nodded happily and walked after him along with the pokemon.

* * *

"I don't know about this guys...There's really no use..."

But Carmen wouldn't hear it "What's with the defeatist talk? We haven't even started!"

Evidently, Machop agreed, because he was frowning at Erik. Jaden sighed, reminding himself to keep calm so as not to make this worse before he spoke "Why are you so sure?"

"Well, Dylan and those guys...they're tough and I'm just weak. It's pathetic but I couldn't beat any of them and..."

Jaden gave him an even look "You really do sound pathetic now. Don't you even want to try and get better? Is this what you're going to do for every step of your journey, always avoid trouble and run away when you can't?"

"No! That's...that's different!"

"How?"

"It's...it is! I'll be stronger by then and I'll be able to deal with it!"

"Oh, come on!" Carmen cried out. "You're totally making excuses now. Jaden's saying this is something you need to face head on now. Who knows what it will be like next time? This Dylan guy's just full of himself, there's plenty of strong trainers out there. But I highly doubt you'll be able to deal with them as long as you're like this. It's more about how it affects you than Dylan, really."

Erik was about to protest that they didn't know that but he knew there was no point so he sighed "That's easy for you to say."

Jaden frowned "You think you're the only trainer who had to face their fears? Plenty of us do that, no one said the journey would be easy but it's something that helps us grow and become strong. A big part of it is about us making the effort."

Machop sighed, he could understand why Jaden was getting annoyed. Erik was making this needlessly difficult when they just wanted to help. Really and the boy called Machop stubborn because why?

Unbeknownst to the group, someone was listening in on them. A boy with spiky black hair, who had heard enough to understand the situation, decided to act. He saw three Staravia nearby, eating. The boy happened to be one of Dylan's friends, Tyler. It didn't take him long to understand what the group was up to and while he really doubted Dylan would lose, he still wanted to do something.

He smirked as a thought came to him before he picked up a rock and tossed it at the three birds, startling them and making look around quickly. The other rock came closer, and almost took hit one of the Staravia's eyes. Now getting angry, the bird pokemon began to look around.

Unfortunately, by the time they looked at the right direction, the culprit was gone. The Staravia then noticed Jaden's group and understood them to be the ones behind this. To them, there was only one thing to do.

Erik didn't know what to do. Suddenly as they were debating their plan of action, three Staravia came out of nowhere and attacked them. Machop, Shellos and Stratos had immediately sprung to protect them. He could see how much trouble Machop was having, facing an evolved flying type. The Staravia were strong, he could see that. Shellos and Stratos were having somewhat less trouble but the situation wasn't good.

"Guys, we have to run!" Erik called.

"No!" Carmen said at once, making him look back to see her glaring at the Staravia while Jaden was checking up on Stratos, who had almost been made to crash down a second ago.

Carmen watched as the Staravia charged in for a Wing Attack and narrowed her eyes. "All right, Shellos, wait till Staravia comes close. Then hit it with Water Pulse."

The water type nodded, keeping her focus on her opponent. It was fast so she knew she had to time this right.

Just as Staravia touched down, it was blasted by a sphere of water that made it hit the ground.

"Ice beam!"

After that counter, the cold energy beam hit the mark perfectly, defeating Staravia. Carmen cheered at the result while Shellos beamed, both oblivious to a surprised Erik watching them.

"Good job, Stratos!"

Erik turned in time to see Stratos avoiding a strike from the second Staravia. It wasn't about to be deterred though as it immediately charged up for an Aerial Ace.

Jaden had seen the move used before in battle so he knew it can be difficult to dodge. He knew what to do though.

"Feint Attack!"

The Staravia shot at its target with great speed, a feeling of satisfaction beginning to surge within it. Said feeling immediately became one of shock as the Murkrow vanished.

Before it could process what happened, Staravia felt Stratos hit it on the side, sending it reeling. Jaden had the Murkrow follow up with a Wing Attack which sent the Staravia crashing to the ground with a loud cry.

Carmen beamed and Jaden smiled before looking at Erik "If we can do it, so can you. You just have to try."

Still feeling a little unsure, Erik nodded and waited for the Staravia Machop was facing to come close. Moments later, the bird swooped in for a Quick Attack.

"Protect!"

He felt satisfied as Machop's green shield fended the attack perfectly and knew he had to follow up at once. "Use Karate Chop!"

Machop smirked as he hit the Staravia dead on, stiffening when its comrades rose up seconds later. But there was no need to worry as they appeared to have had enough as they chose to fly away from the field.

Erik let out a sigh, greatly relieved. Jaden picked Stratos up "Nice job, you handled yourself well."

Stratos gave a happy call at the praise and settled on his trainer's shoulder. Carmen looked at them "I thought it looked like a couple of those moves landed extra hard..."

"You were right. Stratos' ability is Super Luck, it makes it easier to land critical hits."

"Really? Cool!"

"How are you guys so confident?" The two started and looked at Erik. He seemed upset and soon proceeded to explain why "You guys were so brave, you just helped your pokemon without hesitating and you didn't freeze up like I did. How do you do that?"

Carmen tilted her head a little "I remembered something Mom told me before. But mostly I just didn't think about it."

After a few moments of thought, Jaden spoke "Well...I just had to remind myself not to let any fear get in the way. It would just cause trouble for us all and it wouldn't be fair to Stratos. As trainers we have to try and be focused as our pokemon are counting on us."

Erik looked down, knowing the boy was right "I really messed up."

"Hey, it can happen to anyone." Jaden thought back to his visit to Oreburgh City. "We can make mistakes but we learn from them and keep going."

"Words to live by." Carmen nodded to him. "Hey, Machop sure looks like he's willing to try, you should too."

Erik looked at the fighting type, who grinned. He slowly smiled a few moments later "...Then can we keep going?"

The rest replied affirmatively and went on deeper into the forest...

* * *

After learning that Machop was close to perfecting Mega Punch by the time Erik ran into Dylan again, Carmen suggested that they try to get back to work on it and took them to a field bare of any trees she had seen earlier. It was the spacious grassy plain field where she tried to catch that Ponyta earlier and failed.

"So how did you get started anyway?" Jaden tilted his head, looking curious.

"Well, I'm not really sure how to explain but I think it depends on storing the most power Machop can muster up in his fist and attacking." He looked at Machop, who sighed as his attempt to use the move on a rock failed. "We were basically trying to work it out but I think Machop's having trouble with controlling the power..."

Dante went over to Machop and attempted to help, starting off by using Power Up Punch in the air before attempting to gather more power as he tried to use the move again. Machop shook his head, proceeding advise his friend not to try it like that yet and soon both pokemon got busy trying to work it out.

"Well, it would help if Machop could get on it faster." Carmen remarked.

"Sure but that comes with experience, doesn't it? I wonder if Dante had the right idea though..." Erik scratched his head. "...man, I was trying to look up info on the move the other day but all I found is that it depends on the amount of power and stamina used..."

"That sounds..." Dante's cry interrupted their conversation and the three then heard a rumble that made them look left, seeing some boulders heading in their and the pokemon's direction.

Thinking fast, Carmen reacted quickly and had Mime. Jr push the closest rocks away with Confusion. She was glad when the boys followed her lead, then seeing Machop get rid of a large boulder with Karate Chop while Dante got rid of another with Power Up Punch.

Machop landed on the ground, his eyes widening when he saw another large boulder coming. He then saw something fast dashing in the chaos, knocking into Jaden and pushing him closer to the trouble. Machop hurried to action at once, seeing Dante do the same. He focused more power into the Karate Chop and struck.

Dante's eyes narrowed with determination to help his trainer and friends. Feeling a new surge of power, the chimp pokemon's body glowed white before the glow spread to Dante's hand. Dante proceeded to thrust his hand forward, shocking everyone when a dark beam Jaden recognized as Night Shade struck the boulder and destroyed it along with Machop's strike.

Erik let out a breath "Boy am I glad that's over..."

"Chi Chi chimchar?" Dante wanted to Jaden, frowning in concern.

The boy smiled at him and stood "Thanks, I'm fine. Just confused, I think something hit me..." He noticed Machop nodding to this. "...you saw that too, Machop?"

"Machop." He nodded again, looking around but seeing no sign of that figure.

"Well, mysteries aside for the moments, glad you're okay! Things really worked out, but since when can Dante use Night Shade?" Carmen tilted her head.

"I don't know..." Jaden trailed off, giving his starter a curious look.

"Actually, I think that was Assist." He and Carmen looked at Erik. "It's a move that lets the user copy a move from a teammate. The effects can be kind of random, that was a good shot." Dante smiled at this.

Jaden's eyes widened in surprise. He picked Dante up with a smile "It really was, nice work Dante!"

"Char!" The pokemon beamed back.

* * *

It was a while later as they were contemplating some more training plans that the group came across three boys, one of them had messy black hair and green eyes and a Taillow on his shoulder. The second was bulky, with dirty blond hair that almost covered one of his dark brown eyes and the third had brown hair and matching eyes. The first boy appeared to be in a foul mood while the other two were sneering at him. The group would've dismissed this as it didn't appear to be any of their buisness had it not been for two things: Erik recognizing the three boys from school and the boy with the Taillow saying the following.

"Are you even listening to yourself?! How can you consider starting that Rock Slide a good thing, Dylan? You could have really hurt them!"

"What? That's no big deal, hey, those losers wanted to train. I just lent them a hand." The boy shrugged.

The third boy seemed to agree "It wouldn't have made any difference. We spiced things up a bit. It was easy getting those Staravia riled up at them too. It was just so sad, thinking some training would help them beat Dylan."

"Josh's right, we were just trying to show them their place..." Dylan began.

"For all that big talk..." The three's eyes widened at Jaden's voice, seeing him, Carmen and Erik with their pokemon make their way over. "...you're going through an awful lot of trouble to make sure you wouldn't fight. From where I'm standing it looks like you're scared."

Dylan scowled "What did you say?!"

"I didn't stutter, did I?" Jaden glared back. "You talk big but that's all there is."

"Yeah, they're just full of hot air!" Carmen agreed. "If you were such tough trainers, you would have just faced us right from the start."

Josh sneered back "We're saying there's no point wasting time on little rookies like you so take a hike! You can't beat us!"

"Tough talk coming from a cronie!"

The boy with the Taillow, whose name was Mark, frowned "You know I thought going on this journey would have taught you something but you're just the same old bullies you were in school." Taillow chirped angrily in agreement.

Josh glowered at him "Hey, you used to know what was right once. You just lost your nerve and became a hopeless case like Dylan says."

Erik blinked "Wait, so you don't have anything to do with this?"

"No!" Mark snapped, looking offended by the mere suggestion. "I just ran into them a little while ago and yeah, I thought we could be friends in school but that was before I knew what they were really like." He looked at Jaden. "Sorry about before. Taillow almost got caught up in that mess. She was trying to get away but she practically landed you in it." The pokemon in question lowered her head, giving the boy an apologetic look of her own.

Deciding that they seemed sincere, Jaden responded "That's all right, at least no one was hurt."

"Well, isn't that nice," Dylan scoffed. "How about you kiddies do yourselves a favor and take a hike now?"

"How about you just put a sock in it?" Erik shot back, feeling absolutely fed-up. Not only had Dylan been harassing him for so long in school and started this trouble, he even got his new friends in trouble just because he felt like it. The fact that he didn't care left Erik all the more angry. "Like we're just going to leave now, someone needs to teach you a lesson and I want the first shot. I challenge you to a battle!" Machop clenched his fists, feeling glad that he and his trainer were on the same page

"That's the way, Erik! You got this!" Carmen beamed at him.

Dylan just laughed "What? He's got nothing! This'll be a waste of time!"

"What, you scared?" Mark taunted while Erik scowled. "Just keep in mind, that none of us are going away from here without battling at least one of you." Carmen and Jaden nodded to this.

Dylan scoffed "Well, fine whatever. If he wants to lose again, I'll be happy to help."

* * *

With that settled, the battle soon got under way. It soon grew intense, with neither side giving an inch. At first it looks like Dylan's newly evolved Primeape has the upper hand, its fast and furious strikes leaving Machop on the defensive but even then taking damage.

"Karate Chop!" Dylan hollered.

"Dodge it and use Low Sweep!" Erik countered. Machop smirked when he fulfilled that perfectly. "Follow it up with Strength!"

Before Primeape could react, he was being lifted by Machop. He opened his eyes when he heard Dylan call for a Mega Punch and proceeded to deliver that on his opponent.

"Again!" Dylan added, grimacing when Erik took care of the problem by having Machop use Counter and send Primeape crashing to the ground.

"Keep it up, guys!" Carmen cheered.

"Don't any of dare get cocky." Dylan warned. "I'll be dealing with you three losers after I'm done with this one."

"I dare you to try." The girl retorted, looking satisfied when she saw how the comment ticked him off.

"Let's see if you're so smug later..."

* * *

Erik had been on the defensive for a while but was gaining heart as he saw his pokemon insist on continuing. He knew why too, Machop had been the one trying to convince him to face this head on. He also knew the fighting type well enough to realize that Machop had gained as much as heart as he did thanks to their new friends. They might have known them for a short while but Jaden, Carmen and their pokemon had truly been a big help. That was another reason why he wanted to win this.

"Ha!" Dylan crowed when Primeape knocked Machop down with a Karate Chop. "That's right, that's where you losers belong! Wrap this up with Dynamic Punch, Primeape!"

Primeape began to run forward, power gathering around his fist...

"Erik, you guys have been doing good so far. You can beat him!" Jaden encouraged.

"That's right, keep at it!" Carmen added while her and Jaden's pokemon cheered in agreement once again.

Erik nodded "Wait for it Machop..."

He only acted when Primeape was close enough to attempt the punch. "Grab Primeape's other arm and use Seismic Toss!"

"Machop!" Machop side stepped and grabbed Primeape's unused arm before throwing him with all the power he could muster.

"Nice, now back to back Karate Chops!"

Machop rushed out before his opponent could rise and proceeded to hammer Primeape's face with a glowing arm numerous times, sending it reeling.

Dylan is shocked as Primeape staggered to his feet "Cross Chop now!"

"Low Sweep!"

"No!" He cried as Primeape was disoriented by the speedy move. "I'm not going to lose now..."

Erik ignored this and continued "End this with Brick break!"

Machop struck once again and Primeape was knocked back down hard, and it was clearly down and out.

"No way!" Josh cried.

"All right!" Mark smiled.

The pokemon cheered and ran to congratulate Machop while Jaden and Carmen exchanged a look and smiled before going to Erik.

During their congratulations and Erik's resulting bashfulness, Dylan stomped over to the group. "Don't we look pleased, you got cocky, punk it won't happen again!"

Erik merely gave him an unimpressed look, he should have known Dylan would be a sore loser.

"Yeah, that's right, this changes nothing!" Josh declared imperiously.

"Guys, I know we said beating one would be enough but suddenly I'm starting to feel like he wants a fight too." Jaden began.

"You know what, you're right." Mark stated, giving Josh a cool look. "So how about it?" He felt satisfied as the boy stiffened with all the glares directed at him.

"I-I'll let you off easy this time!" He left.

Dylan had a dumbfounded look "Hey, wait! Ngh, you're definitely going to lose next time."

Erik noticed Machop's flat expression and shook his head "What're you going to do? Some people just don't learn." The fighting type nodded. "Anyway, thanks a lot you guys, we pulled this off with your help."

"That's okay, everyone needs a helping hand now and then, it was your efforts that helped you pull through in the end." Jaden returned his smile.

"Yeah, I mean you didn't make it easy, Erik but you really surprised me there." Carmen admitted. "I almost thought that..."

She was about to continue when Erik spoke "Do you have to talk like that? It hasn't been an easy time for me!"

"Well can you blame me for thinking this way? Besides, you not only interrupted me, you completely missed the point."

"What point? It sounds like you just want to take a shot at me."

Mark, Jaden and the pokemon watched the growing argument with exasperation, mostly from the first "Well, there goes that moment, I guess..."

Jaden gave an awkward laugh, then hearing the boy continue. "...I kind of get where he's coming from though. Seriously was that supposed to be a complement?"

"I guess we'll never know."

"True. Anyway, I found a shortcut to the next town, you want to come with?" Mark asked.

Jaden smiled "Sure."

Mark glanced back at Erik and Carmen, who seemed to have run out of steam before extending the offer to them. The two were also glad to take him up on it and they were all soon heading on the way.


	6. Chapter 6

Jaden glanced at the side where his pokemon were having their own breakfast and smiled to himself when he saw how well they were getting along. They were turning out to be good friends with Dante turning out to be the leader among them though he took well to the young Leora like a sibling and Stratos worked great with them both.

Thinking it to be best that to get to training afterwards, he took out the pokedex and began looking up information on his trio of pokemon to help.

"Veevee." He blinked and looked up to see Leora pushing his food plate closer with a slight pout. "Ee vui."

Jaden smiled and patted her head, the message was clear "Gotcha, thanks."

The pokemon trilled happily back, before settling herself next to Jaden as he continued to finish his own breakfast.

Minutes later, the group of four was startled by a low moan which they recognized Carmen the source of. The girl sat down nearby with slumped shoulders and a weary expression.

"Ah, you okay?" Jaden asked tentatively.

"No." She said flatly, letting her head rest on the table for a moment. "I hate mornings."

Jaden had seen this attitude enough times to know it was usual for their companion but he never understood one thing. "How did you even wake up when you were traveling separately?"

"I like my sleep, okay? This is better anyway. I don't know why Shellos insisted on soaking me every time anyway..."

"I've got a good idea why..." Jaden said wryly, while Stratos appeared unimpressed. He ignored Carmen's glare at this and continued "...anyway, you got any plans in particular?"

"Not really. You?"

"I figure we should take the chance and start training soon. You guys up for it?" Jaden smiled when Dante cheered, Leora smiled and Stratos inclined his head with a small smirk.

* * *

Soon, the quartet left Carmen and her pokemon in the cafeteria and went to the field just beside the pokemon center. Jaden stopped when he saw Leora blink and look around but before he could question this, he heard a voice say...

"All right, that's good! If we keep this pace up, you're sure to get stronger."

There was a boy around Jaden's age with dark blue hair and grey eyes with a Sneasel standing before him. The boy was about to continue when he saw Sneasel tilt his body sideways, having noticed the new arrivals making him to turn and look back.

"Oh, you all getting ready to train too?" The boy started.

"Yeah, sorry for interrupting..." Jaden stopped when the boy spoke, waving a dismissive hand.

"Don't sweat it, you haven't. We've actually been here for a while. Sneasel just felt like working on refining his moves."

Jaden half-smiled, the boy certainly seemed friendly. He noted the boy's expression turn curious at the sight of his pokemon.

"Hey, interesting pokemon you've got there. You don't see a Chimchar and an Eevee everyday."

"Oh, I got Dante thanks to Professor Rowan. Leora...well, she more or less found us." Jaden said, his other two pokemon concurring with the statement. The Eevee merely beamed.

The boy gave a bemused look "Cool, I'm Xavier Delaney. What's your name?"

"Jaden Vega. Ah, like I said..." he gestured to his pokemon in turn. "...those two are Dante and Leora, and this is Stratos."

Xavier blinked as a thought struck him "Hey, any relation to Alexei Vega?"

The boy nodded "He's my dad."

"Yeah? I read his books, they were pretty good." Xavier smiled seeing Dante and Leora talking to Sneasel. "Hey, out of curiosity, did you consider what you want Eevee to evolve into?"

Leora turned to Jaden at this, interested in his answer. She was well aware that her species were famed for evolution and she also knew about her possible seven forms. Thing is, while she did want to evolve some day, the Eevee had no idea what form to choose.

Jaden seemed surprised by the question but he answered truthfully "No, not really. We're barely getting to know each other. We'll deal with that when the time comes, of course, I'll be considering Leora's choice too."

The Eevee trilled happily at this, nuzzling his leg in gratitude, the bemused boy patted her head in response. She knew having a trainer would affect her choice in the future. As long as that trainer was Jaden, that was a-okay in her book.

Xavier and Sneasel smiled at the interaction "Hey, you want some help training?"

With that said, the two groups got to work. The training started off shakily at first but as the pokemon paced themselves and Jaden decided what to work on. His own lack of experience wasn't helping matters but things were improving. Sneasel decided to join around the time of the accuracy and speed drills, with their trainers setting up targets to test their moves and taking their time with a stopwatch Xavier borrowed from Nurse Joy to help assess their speed.

"I never thought of that doing that," Jaden admitted, eyeing the stopwatch.

"My uncle's really meticulous, he's been trying it for years. He suggested I give it a shot once." Xavier admitted with a shrug. "I guess...from the looks of it, Stratos is your fastest pokemon."

"Yeah..." The boy agreed, glancing at the timer on the watch before his eyes traveled to his starter, who was happily swinging around the tree branches nearby. After a few moments, he walked over to the nearest trees. "Dante, I'm glad you're having fun and all but you mind saving this for later? We've got to keep at it, remember?"

"Char!" Dante responded by jumping down right in front of the boy. Well, they hadn't been doing much so he thought it was fine taking a little break. No one seemed to mind anyway but he was right, they were here to train.

"Well..."

"There you are."

The three turned around to find Carmen watching them with her arms crossed, a frown setting on her face.

"Hey, everything all right?" Jaden asked.

Her response really threw everyone for a loop."No, what're you doing with him?"

Jaden looked between them "You know each other?"

Xavier seemed about as puzzled as he felt though...

"You forgot? We fought in the evening over at Sandgem town's pokemon center..."

His face cleared up and he finished before she could "Oh, the girl with the Shellos!"

"Talk about rude, I have a name you know! It's Carmen!" She said hotly.

Almost as if in contrast, Xavier stayed calm "You're hardly the epitome of manners, you know. Besides, are you actually holding that loss against me? That happens to anyone..."

"Well, aren't you arrogant? You just lucked out! I bet I'll beat you now!" Carmen snapped.

"You're just misunderstanding what I said on purpose, aren't you? If you want to battle again, fine but don't say my win was because of luck. It wasn't."

"Yes, it was!"

He scoffed "Keep telling yourself that."

Jaden and the pokemon watch the argument escalate with a mixture of surprise and bewilderment. After his attempt to defuse it failed as the two chose to pretty much ignore him, the boy sighed and turned to his pokemon "How about we just leave them to it?"

They were all too happy to agree with the suggestion, mostly because Leora didn't want to deal with the fight and Stratos didn't care, thinking it was stupid. Dante was the one thinking similarly to their trainer here in that he didn't mind helping.

With Carmen in such a temper, the Chimchar just couldn't see anyway to defuse the situation without resorting to forcefully separating them. He'd rather not hurt the humans, even if he thought the situation they caused was ridiculous.

Coming to an agreement, the four went on their way, deciding to find a different training spot.

* * *

A few minutes later...

"Oh, good grief. I'm not wasting anymore time with you, this is ridiculous." Xavier grunted, turning to leave.

"Wha...hey, get back here!"

The boy stopped as he realized Jaden and his pokemon were nowhere to be seen. He turned slightly at the sound of steps and found Sneasel sitting up on a tree, watching him with a flat look and arms crossed.

Now to some, that might considered strange. Xavier had been around Sneasel long enough to know this was the pokemon's way of showing how unimpressed he was with his trainer.

"...Don't say a word."

Sneasel rolled his eyes, but he knew the boy was already aware of what he'd done so he merely jumped down.

"They left a while back, huh?"

"Snee." A nod.

"You know where they are?" Xavier received another nod. He sighed "Good, can you show me where? I don't know if Jaden will want any help after this but I'll at least try to make up for snubbing him off."

Sneasel nodded in understanding, approving of the boy's line of thought. The sharp claw pokemon didn't know Jaden yet but he could see how well he and Xavier got along. He could see that the boy worked hard. His pokemon had nice things to say about him and he seemed friendly, so Sneasel didn't mind helping things along.

He gestured for his trainer to follow. Xavier picked up his bag and soon the two were well on their way.

* * *

The group in question was in the park a few ways off from the center. Jaden sat down and sighed "Yeesh, how did things end up like this?"

"Row." Stratos gave his shoulder a pat before pointing at the pokedex.

"Oh, you're saying we should get started?" The bird nodded. "True...well, let's see then..."

Two people were passing by then "You've had someone looking up information on Arceus? Isn't it a myth?"

"I think so. I was just doing a part time job at the library so I didn't question her. I guess the lady's big on mythical stuff. She didn't seem to believe that though. I don't see why though, there's hardly any information about it."

"Yeah, I mean there's those statues of Dialga and Palkia in Eterna City. I know they say Arceus gave birth to them but is that even true? I guess those relics over in Celestic Town might but that's guess work."

"True that. Well, people believe what they want to..."

"Yeah..."

"Chi Char?"

Jaden blinked at the voice and found Dante watching him with a puzzled look. The Chimchar tilted his head a little, noting how the boy spaced out "Chimchar?"

"A-ah, it's nothing, let's get to work, okay?"

Dante and Leora readily agreed and followed the boy as he went to an empty area. Stratos lingered for a few moments, curious. The darkness pokemon knew his teammates hadn't missed out on how their trainer had spaced out just now but they seemed to have let it slide as Jaden did.

Stratos didn't feel like prying so he left the matter alone. There was just one oddity.

Was it just him or did Jaden really freeze up when he heard the name Arceus? If so, why?

* * *

"Hey, so you learned this much from Machop." Jaden noted as Dante proceeded to show that he was working on learning Mega Punch. "Nice." The Chimchar grinned. "How about you work on your own for now while I see about Stratos and Leora, okay? I'll get back to you after that."

"Chim!" The pokemon went a few feet away and began punching the air with clear focus.

"All right..." Jaden blinked. "...what's wrong, Leora?"

The Eevee looked upset "Ee..." Likewise confused, Stratos let out a questioning noise and she looked at him, chittering away for a few moments.

Jaden watched curiously, seeing Stratos nod a few moments later as he seemed to understand. The Murkrow's eyes narrowed a bit before he begin to speak, Leora's ears drooped as she looked down. Jaden knew that whatever Stratos was trying to tell her wasn't doing much good.

"Leora, don't you want to train?" He began.

The Eevee quickly shook her head, showing that it wasn't that.

Come to think of it, this was Leora's second session but it was the first where she had to battle one of her teammates. Maybe she didn't want to...?

Jaden shook the thought off and decided to find out "All right, can one of you try explaining the problem to me?"

Stratos chirped a couple of times before gesturing to Leora, who responded by firing a Swift attack at a nearby rock. Stratos, who had flown near the rock, mimed wincing and pretended to fall down.

"...I get it, you're worried about the battle because you don't want to hurt your friends." Jaden concluded. Leora nodded, confirming his suspicion. "You watched our double battle back in Oreburgh City from the beginning, didn't you?" The now curious Eevee nodded again. "See, we pulled that off because we worked together. Pokemon battling isn't about getting hurt, it's about becoming stronger and gaining experience. That's just what Stratos and Dante did. They make such a good team because they trained and fought together, their friendship grew stronger. I bet the same will happen here. No one's going to hold it against you if give it your all in training, Stratos would want you to. It's okay if you have doubts, we'll just work through them and show you there's nothing to worry about. We're a team now, remember? That's what we do."

"Row." Stratos nodded.

Leora slowly smiled and nodded, perking up as the Murkrow patted her head with a wing. The bird then flew back a back and crowed in challenge, telling her to attack when she was ready. She nodded back, looking determined as she made another round of Swift.

Stratos aptly flew out of the way before charging with a Night Shade, which Leora avoided with a Quick Attack. The Eevee attempted to turn the evasion maneuver into a strike but Stratos was already flying above her at the moment. The Murkrow proceeded to use Night Shade, which she back flipped twice to dodge, only to be caught in the shockwave the attack caused as it hit the ground.

Jaden watched the battle proceed thoughtfully, thinking back on his lessons from school. A teacher had mentioned how a pokemon's nature could influence their battling style and that trainers should find what suits their pokemon best and adapt accordingly, not force them to adhere to whatever the trainer believes is right. The boy knew that this was just what he would do, so he took time to observe his pokemon.

After observing all his pokemon, Jaden came to think that Stratos was likely the fastest of his pokemon. Dante excelled in power and was the most flexible, Leora was looking more and more like the pokemon who focused on accuracy and precision. Jaden began thinking of ways to work with this as he approached his starter.

"Dante?" Jaden tilted his head a bit seeing the Chimchar appear frustrated. 'What is it?'

With a sigh, Dante prepared another attempt at Mega Punch, only for nothing to happen as he punched the air.

"Ah, no luck there."

"Char." A nod.

"It's all right, we might have jumped the gun. Don't over do it. My bad, I thought it was similar to Power Up Punch but I guess it can't be that easy..." Jaden remembered something else had been planning to mention. "...how about we get started on another move? Like...say, Flame Wheel."

Dante gave him his full attention, thinking this to be the better option. Jaden then tried to explain the move according to what he found from the pokedex and battles he had seen earlier "It goes fast, with fire gathered all around you...you can picture the flames looking like that." He pointed at the wheel of a car parked not too far away. "Sorry, I'm not really good at explaining...but I figure visualizing the move could help. Give me a minute and I'll see if the pokedex can help."

"Chimchar!" Dante nodded. The explanation was a little vague but that was fine, they would work things through. He knew he could count on Jaden for help as even though they were new, the four of them made a good team. The Chimchar firmly believed that.

With those thoughts in mind, Dante went back to work.

* * *

"Hey, they're really going at it." Xavier smiled, he saw Dante standing on his own, working on...was that Flame Wheel?

On another side, Stratos and Leora seemed to have been battling, the two firing attacks that cancelled each other moments after he and Sneasel arrived. Jaden was talking to the duo, who seemed a little worn but pleased. Stratos patted Leora's back while Jaden stroked her head, with the Eevee beaming at them. Xavier had a feeling something good had happened regarding Leora.

The Eevee noticed the new arrivals and pointing them out to the others "Vee!"

Jaden turned his head, similarly surprised to see the two. "What're you doing here?"

"You didn't have to leave. I didn't want to let things end on that note."

"Which bit, the one where you and Carmen fought little kids or the one where we were apparently expected to watch?" Jaden asked dryly.

The other boy grinned sheepishly "Forget it...I was serious about wanting to help though." His eyes fell on Sneasel, who was now listening to Dante talk with a small smirk growing on his face. "I think Sneasel does too. He's my first pokemon but he's always been kind of difficult, either your pokemon are growing on him or..."

"Or?"

"He's bored.' Xavier chuckled as Jaden sweatdropped at the statement. "Just kidding."

Jaden glanced at the pokemon "You know, we've been around this area a whole bunch but I've never seen any wild Sneasel..."

"I'd be surprised if you did. We came from Snowpoint City." Xavier stated. "So, you're planning to compete in the Sinnoh League?"

"Yeah, years ago I used to imagine it was all about meeting pokemon, becoming strong and winning your way up. It started out because of those matches they'd bring up on TV."

Xavier nodded in understanding "I wouldn't be surprised. A couple of my friends did too, I remember them trying to imitate the trainers too. I doubt you were the only ones to think so. So, how do you feel about it now?"

"Well, I'd love to meet all sorts of people and pokemon and make friends. Now I intend to do my best to make the most of this journey, so I can be the best trainer I can be." Jaden stated. His determined tone made Xavier think that there was another strong reason beside growing up that lead to this decision.

Jaden continued before he could voice the thought. "Does this have anything to do with you reading Dad's books?"

"Partly, I was curious after hearing my parents talk about them but it did help in the long run. I really got into it and started up reading up some more on pokemon. Next thing I knew, I was hooked." Xavier recalled with a small smile.

Jaden found himself smiling, he'd already known about his father's efforts for years now. Alexei had also been investigating some pokemon then extending his work into legends of Sinnoh, with the legend of Arceus being the last one he worked on before deciding to quit. He had even made some contributions to the Eterna Museum as well. It was nice to see how Alexei's work helped his new friend.

"Chim Chi Char!" The boys turned around finding a grinning Dante waving while Sneasel glanced at them and gave a smirk.

"Better go see what they're up to, huh?"

* * *

Xavier hid a grimace when Carmen found them later that evening talking in the pokemon center's hall. He knew the girl was Jaden's companion but honestly after what happened earlier, he wasn't too keen on dealing with her.

"Were you guys out all day? I never saw you anywhere." She said to Jaden.

"Yeah, it was mostly because of training but we got some good fun out of it too."

"You guys really get along well, huh?"

The two glanced at each other and smiled "Well, I guess we just clicked." Xavier remarked. "You must've been pretty busy yourself."

"Kind of..." Carmen trailed off.

"You guys are getting along nicely." Jaden mused.

"Hey, I wasn't the one with the problem before." Xavier reminded.

Carmen stiffened but what could she say? He was right. "I'm sorry...I've never been able to take losing well and I do get carried away. I'm working on that but you didn't deserve my temper tantrum."

The boy's expression showed that he clearly didn't expect the apology but he gave a half-smile, deciding to take it in the good grace it was delivered. "It's cool, no harm done. We were just going to get some dinner, want to come?"

"Sure!"

Jaden followed them to the cafeteria, smiling all the while.


	7. Chapter 7

''A researcher?'' Carmen looked surprised. ''I never took you for the type...''

Xavier raised an eye ''What did you...'' His expression soured. ''...never mind. Considering the way you've been acting so far, I really don't want to know what you took me for.''

The girl responded by giving him a sheepish grin which served to confirm his rising suspicion. Xavier threw her an irritated look but in the spirit of making up for the recent trouble, decided to let it go.

The three were at the pokemon center's cafeteria, having sat down to eat a little while ago. With Carmen having calmed down, it was much easier for them to get to know each other.

''Anyway,'' Xavier went on. ''You're both going to Eterna City so Jaden can get to the gym, right?''

Jaden confirmed ''I didn't think challenging the gym before would be a good idea so we'll start from there.''

''And I'm going to find my second contest there and win it!'' Carmen declared, making a guts pose.

''Someone's confident...''

''Well, of course!''

Jaden had a thought ''Actually, how does someone go about becoming a researcher anyway?''

''I'm actually working on figuring that out.'' Xavier admitted. ''The journey was something I really wanted to go and it's the best way to get hands on experience. The first thing I thought would be maybe picking up experience with a professor and finding what I want to specialize in.''

''Hm, you know, I can ask Professor Rowan for help.''

He blinked at Jaden's suggestion, clearly not expecting that. ''You'd do that?''

''Sure, I think he could help.'' Jaden returned. He'd had a chance to talk to the man before and he seemed nice and pleasant to him, if just somewhat stern. Getting some advice for Xavier definitely seemed doable to the boy.

''Awesome! Thanks, Jaden.''

* * *

Since he learned the professor was busy via his assistant, Jaden went to the center's field and decided to get some training in.

''Looking good, guys, we're making some real progress!''

His pokemon smiled at the words. Dante seemed to decide to keep things going because soon the Chimchar was performing another Flame Wheel. Taking a page from Xavier's book, Jaden used the boy's stop watch to time the move.

He nodded, watching Dante stop the move before landing on a tree branch ''Yup, that's better...''

The happy starter was distracted when he saw a white pokemon that looked like a squirrel dash on the street below. Dante blinked, barely even seeing it anymore, what was that?

* * *

As they made to head back to their room, a little girl who was approaching the counter with a worried look.

''Nurse Joy, did you see her anywhere?''

''Her?'' The woman looked curious. ''Oh, don't tell me...''

The girl nodded, appearing more upset as she spoke ''She took off again. I don't know what to do...maybe she really doesn't like me...''

''Now don't say that, Sarah, I'm sure there's a reason for this.'' Nurse Joy tried to comfort her.

''But...I don't know what to do...''

Carmen, who had been picking her pokemon up after a check up, cocked her head ''What's going on?''

''Lately, Sarah's Pachirisu keeps wandering off.'' Nurse Joy informed. ''This lasts for hours on end and we still don't know why. It's getting to be more frequent now.''

''Oh...'' Carmen eyed the girl sympathetically. No wonder she was sad. ''...hey, what do you say I help you look?''

Sarah looked surprised ''You will?''

''Sure! I bet we can get to the bottom of this.''

Carmen took a few minutes to tell Jaden and Xavier about the situation and was gratified to find that the boys wanted to help too. A happy Sarah thanked the three and they soon got started.

Since he hadn't been out of the lab before meeting Jaden, Dante didn't know what a Pachirisu even looked like. Upon learning this, Stratos brought him up to speed and the Chimchar was quick to realize that it was actually the same pokemon he had seen before. He was quick to try and explain this to the trainers, who wound up taking the squirrel's apparent direction afterwards.

* * *

They soon split into two groups, with Sarah leading Carmen towards one and the boys taking another.

Xavier sighed as he walked away from a man who was trying to get him to participate in a tour sponsored by his company. ''Talk about barking up the wrong tree...he wasn't listening at all.''

''Well, we couldn't find anyone who's seen a thing on our end.'' Jaden informed as he and Leora joined him. ''So maybe Pachirisu didn't pass by here.'' He glanced at the sky. ''Here's to hoping Stratos has better luck.''

''Yeah...I wonder why this keeps happening anyway.''

* * *

Carmen groaned ''Come on, you're wasting our time! Did you see a Pachirisu or not?''

She and Sarah had stopped at a supermarket, since the little girl admitted that some of the workers there knew her and would likely recognize Pachirisu if they saw her. With the amount of people who came and went, the girls agreed that they might come across someone who had seen her pokemon.

The problem with that idea had been one of the cashiers, who insisted that they help her out with organizing some inventory before she told them anything. Carmen tried to argue but the woman was stubborn, citing her belief that no one got something for nothing.

An annoyed Carmen directed Mime. Jr to place the last of the boxes in front of them on a shelf before turning to the woman.

''Well?''

''Hmm...'' The woman noted her glare and decided to avoid any possible trouble. ''...I did come across a couple who mentioned seeing a Pachirisu running around in the plaza. It stood out since wild Pachirisu don't live around these parts, so that's likely the one you're looking for.''

Sarah perked up ''Let's go, let's go!''

''All right come on, Mime. Jr.'' The pokemon jumped to his trainer's awaiting arms before the three ran outside.

* * *

''A Pachirisu?'' A boy gave Jaden a curious look. ''Oh yeah, thinking back there was one in the plaza...my sister's Glameow was talking to it.'' He turned to the pokemon who happened to be resting on the bench next to him.

The pokemon mewled ''Nyaar...'' Sneasel spoke to it for a few seconds before turning to Xavier and shaking his head.

''No dice, huh?'' Xavier sighed.

''If you're trying to catch it, you're out of luck. Sis already tried, it belongs to someone.'' The boy informed.

''We know, for some reason Pachirisu keeps running off on its own and its trainer is really worried. We're trying to find it so we can figure this out.'' Jaden explained.

''Oh. In that case, Glameow, any idea where it went?''

Glameow pointed to their far left, in the direction of the big building that was the town's observatory.

* * *

Sarah rejoined Carmen at one of the plaza's entrances with a pout, hearing the older girl groan ''So all that was for nothing! I thought we were on to something here...''

''I'm sorry...you don't have to keep doing this. It's nice of you to help...''

''What? Hey, slow down, no one's backing out here.'' Carmen said quickly. ''It's just because that lady from before got on my nerves. We agreed to help and we're sticking to that.''

She felt gratified when Sarah began to smile ''Thanks...''

''Save that for when we find Pachirisu.'' Carmen looked around, raising an eye when she saw a building not too far away. It was around the size of a few structures nearby but clearly different, its upper part seemed to be like a dome and there were a few flying pokemon wandering around it. ''Sarah, what is that place?''

''?'' The little girl followed her pointed finger, gesturing at the building. ''Oh, that's the observatory.''

''How about we go look there? It's worth a shot.''

* * *

It didn't take the girls long to spot a familiar figure coming out of the street corner they were approaching.

Carmen blinked ''Dante?''

The Chimchar turned to them and smiled, making his way over. Carmen gave him a curious look ''You guys came this way too, huh?''

''Chi Chim.'' Dante pointed at the observatory before gesturing at Sarah. ''Chimchar.''

Carmen wasn't too sure what he wanted to tell them but she took a shot in the dark ''You mean Pachirisu came this way?'' Dante nodded quickly and she grinned. ''Hear that, Sarah?''

The little girl perked up ''Yeah, let's go!''

A few minutes later, the three were surprised to find Xavier battling a girl with a Bidoof, arriving in time to see Sneasel win with an Ice Shard attack. Dante went to Jaden, who was watching nearby with Leora and Stratos.

''Hey, what're you doing?'' Carmen demanded, ignoring the Bidoof trainer leaving.''We're supposed to be helping Sarah and now you're wasting time battling?''

''We tried to explain that.'' Xavier stated as they continued making their way down the street to their destination.''A bunch of the trainers we saw keep insisting on the trainer rule.''

Sarah blinked ''Trainer rule?''

''When trainers lock eyes, they battle.'' Jaden informed.

''Lucky for us, some can be reasonable about this but the trainers we ran into are clearly looking to spar and most won't take no for an answer.'' Xavier continued.

''That's mean...'' Sarah trailed off, not liking it. This was getting in her way of finding her pokemon after all. ''...hey Jaden, Dante says Pachirisu came this way, is it true?''

''That's what we heard.'' The boy admitted. ''We would've made it by now normally, but...well, you saw what happened.''

Carmen looked annoyed ''Sheesh, we clearly have more important things to do at the moment. Who cares about that rule?''

''More important things to do?'' A boy who looked a couple of years older than her approached the group with a Lickitung standing next to him. ''It sounds like someone's making excuses. Trainers usually battle each other, that's a standard. Didn't you get the memo?''

Her eye twitched at the patronizing tone. ''There's a thing called priorities. Ever hear of that?''

''Excuses, excuses. You're just afraid to lose, huh?''

Now this was too much for her ''Who's afraid?!''

''Well, prove it then,'' He smirked.

''Fine! You want a fight so badly, you got one!''

Sarah tilted her head ''But I thought...''

Xavier sighed ''He just played her like a harp...might as well let them get it over with.''

* * *

After Carmen effectively wrapped up the battle with Shellos, her mood had very much improved. This was helped more by the fact that they made it to the observatory. Stratos had taken it to himself to ask any of the pokemon around about Pachirisu. The Murkrow was very much gratified to hear that the electric squirrel really had come here a while back and had yet to leave. With some help from Sneasel, he was able to bring the others up to speed.

Xavier smiled ''That's good to know. Any chance they actually got to point you in the right direction?'' The dark pokemon shook his head. ''That's okay, now we know just what to do.''

Jaden agreed ''Thanks, Stratos. Can you check the second floor? We're going to start here.'' The Murkrow nodded and flew off.

The boy looked around ''...Is this place usually so empty? It's just weird with the door open and everything.''

Carmen blinked, taking in the sight herself ''You're right...wonder what's up?''

Stratos' eyes narrowed a bit, the second floor seemed to be about as empty as the first. He didn't deal much with humans in the past but even the Murkrow had to agree that Jaden was right. Why was this place left open if no one was here?

He caught movement at the corner of his eye and looked out the window, seeing a couple of men run down the street.

The Murkrow blinked, just what was going on here?

* * *

It was a few minutes later that the group happened to catch Pachirisu running down the stairs.

Sarah's eyes widened ''Pachirisu!''

The electric type stopped, blinking at the sight of her trainer who immediately picked her up. ''There you are! I've been worried sick, what're you doing?''

''Pachi...'' The pokemon patted Sarah's cheek with a clearly apologetic tone, her expression clearly portraying her regret at making Sarah feel this way.

''Is this where you keep running off everytime?''

''Chi.'' A nod.

''Well, how come?'' Sarah pressed.

This time, Pachirisu looked uncertain as of whether to answer. Carmen frowned a bit ''It wouldn't hurt to tell you know. Sarah's really been wanting to find you and we all agreed to figure out what's going on here.''

''Yeah, they're my friends. You can trust them.'' Sarah informed. ''Do you need any help with something? What happened?''

Pachirisu seemed to consider what to say for almost a minute before conceding. ''Chu pa Pachi Pachi chi.''

Dante gave her a curious look before they turned to the observers. ''Chi Chi Chimchar.'' The starter pointed at Pachirisu before holding a finger to his lips.

''Does Pachirisu wants us to keep whatever this is a secret?'' Jaden guessed, receiving nods from both pokemon.

''Hey no problems here,'' Xavier assured, seeing the others nod.''Lead the way, Pachirisu.''

''Chu pa!'' The electric type went up stairs and they were quick to follow.

* * *

Pachirisu led the four and their pokemon to a small room at the end of the second floor. And it was only after finding out just what she wanted to show them that they understood why she was so careful about this.

It was all because of the pokemon she took them to.

''Wow, it's so cute!'' Sarah beamed. ''Who's your friend?''

''Isn't that a...'' Jaden started.

''No way...'' Xavier looked stunned.

The pokemon was small, barely close Pachirisu's height. It had a grass green man with pink flowers at the side of its head. Its dark green eyes were watching the group curiously.

Sarah looked at the boys ''You know it?''

Xavier began to answer ''Well...I've read about it and going by Jaden's face he's learned enough to recognize it too. Now Pachirisu's actions are starting to make sense. Sarah, that's a Shaymin.''

''Are you serious?'' Carmen looked between the two sides, now understanding her friends' shock.

Jaden noted the little girl's growing confusion ''Shaymin's a legendary pokemon.'' Her eyes widened as she caught on. ''No one would expect running into it like this. I wonder what...''

''I want to try catching it!'' Carmen declared, startling the group.

Shaymin backed off, looking alarmed at this while Pachirisu jumped in front of her friend and glared at the girl.

Jaden stepped in front of the two pokemon, leaving the pair surprised. ''Carmen, something's really wrong here.''

''Would you read the mood?'' Xavier looked irritated. ''We just got around to convincing Pachirisu to let us help and you gave it another reason to regret that decision.''

''Yeah!'' Sarah pouted at the girl. She could tell Pachirisu was completely against this and that was good enough for her. ''That's Pachirisu's friend so leave it alone!''

''S-sorry...I got carried away...'' Carmen admitted sheepishly. The two frowned at her while Jaden turned his attention to the pokemon.

''It's okay. No one's going to try anything.'' Jaden noticed a few berries lying in the corner where Shaymin was. A window nearby appeared to be in pieces. Now he understood, Shaymin must have somehow crashed into the observatory and Pachirisu found out. The ele-squirrel had been so busy because she was trying to help the grass type recover.

''You've been trying to help Shaymin recover, huh? That's really nice of you but I think a little helping hand would go a long way.'' Pachirisu looked wary as the boy took something from his bag, her expression changed into surprise as she recognized the two Super Potions he produced then. Jaden smiled when their eyes met, taking out the remaining Sitrus berry he had from his berry pot and placing it with the potions.

''Dante, just in case Shaymin's still scared, you mind?'' He held out the berry.

''Char!'' The Chimchar smiled, taking the item and offering it to the legendary, who began to eat after a few moments. It gave a small smile, relaxing as Dante gave its head a pat.

Leora seemed to understand that Shaymin could use a little reassurance too because she went to her trainer's side and nuzzled his hand. Jaden stroked her head in response, making the Eevee beam. Shaymin's smile grew as it saw that those people truly were kind and so earned its new friend's trust. The legendary approached Jaden, who looked relieved.

He lifted one of the potions ''This might hurt a bit but it'll really help you.'' Shaymin nodded and braced itself as the boy went on to put the items to use. Turned out that it did in fact hurt but Shaymin felt much better afterwards. It trilled happily, hopping up and down.

''Shaymin!''

''Pachi!'' The two pokemon squealed before the latter went to give Jaden a hug.

He laughed, one didn't need to be a pokemon to understand what they were trying to convey here. ''You're welcome.''

Sarah hugged Shaymin, who seemed a little startled but accepted it with a bemused look. The little girl was its new friend's trainer after all so this was more than all right.

* * *

It was after they made to leave the observatory that they ran into trouble.

Or perhaps it would be more accurate to say that trouble found them.

There were three men at the observatory's entrance, all dressed in light blue and green outfits, seemingly looking around for something.

''Who are they?'' Sarah wondered.

Xavier noticed Shaymin beginning to back off and hide behind them ''Hey easy, little guy, did you see those three before?'' It nodded quickly. ''Were they the reason you wound up here?'' Another nod.

Sarah looked troubled at this while the three trainers decided to take Shaymin's reaction as a sign to warrant caution. However, before they could react, the new arrivals noticed them.

''Well there we go!'' One smirked.

''What do you know, the little kiddies actually fixed it all up for us.'' Two grinned.

''One part of that is wrong.'' Carmen retorted. ''Leave Shaymin alone!''

''Not a chance!'' Three sneered. ''And if you know what's good for you, you'll get lost.''

''Just try anything and you'll regret it!'' The girl snapped back.

''Looks like we gotta teach the brats a lesson in pain, boys.'' Three informed.

''Fine by me!'' One stated while Two smirked, a moment later, all of them had their pokeballs at the ready, with their opposition doing their same.

''Loudred, go!''

''Cubone!''

''Teach those brats a lesson, Pinsir!''

Carmen's eyes narrowed as she sent Shellos out ''If you think you'll scare us, you got another thing coming.''

''Yeah, you're not getting Shaymin.'' Xavier said firmly. Sneasel stepped up before him.

''We've got to stop them, ready?'' Jaden looked at Stratos, who was on his shoulder. The Murkrow nodded and flew up.

''Just try it, brats. Loudred, Hyper Voice on the Shellos!'' One called.

''Follow up, Cubone, use Bonemerang!'' Two added.

''Use Strength, Pinsir!'' Three ordered.

Sarah looked alarmed as she realized that the pokemon were all targeting Shellos. ''H-hey, that's not fair!''

''As if we care about something like that!'' Two leered. ''We're just going to them out of the way one piece at at a time!''

* * *

''Sneasel, Ice Shard!''

''Stratos, use Night Shade!''

The trio recoiled at the sight of the Ice Shard hitting the Bonemerang straight on, leaving it to hit the ground, bits of ice spread over it. Meanwhile, the Night Shade attack had stopped Pinsir's attack before it could start.

''What?!''

One grimaced as Carmen ordered Shellos to dodge the Hyper Voice. ''Don't just stand there!'' He yelled at his partners. ''Anyway, don't you have other pokemon?!''

''No, we told you! Shaymin knocked them out, just like it did yours. You're the one who insisted on coming before we could do anything about it.'' Three snapped.

The grunt ground his teeth ''Whatever, we'll just have to make do then. Loudred, Hyper Voice on the Murkrow and follow it up with a Stomp!''

Jaden reacted at once ''Sucker Punch!''

Smirking, Stratos lashed out at great speed, sending the startled Loudred reeling.

''What?!''

''Follow up with Wing Attack!''

Three ground his teeth ''Pinsir, take that Sneasel out with Submission.''

Xavier's eyes narrowed ''Not gonna happen, use Agility!''

Pinsir was forced to stop suddenly as Sneasel disappeared. The bug type failed once more when the trainer ordered a repetition of the attack. A counter of Icy Wind left Pinsir shuddering a little, partly out of surprise.

''Keep it up, Fury Swipes!'' Xavier added.

Two recoiled as he saw his partners getting beat back. ''How are we losing to those kids?''

''Where are you looking?'' Carmen's voice brought his attention to her just as she ordered a Water Pulse from Shellos.

The alarmed man reacted almost too late ''Cubone, Dig!''

''Nice try, fire another one into the hole!'' Carmen ordered. Nodding, Shellos lobbed another watery sphere straight in. She smirked when Cubone was thrown out seconds later.

Sarah beamed ''You're all doing great!''

Pachirisu chittered happily next to her while Shaymin smiled widely, thankful for its new friends.

''Don't start celebrating now. Loudred, hit them all with Hidden Power!''

For a few moments, no one had really processed Three's command but seeing the shining spheres spreading in a number of directions left no one in doubt.

When a number came their way, Pachirisu stepped up to destroy them with a Spark attack. Shaymin also helped out with Energy ball. Sarah gave a relieved smile ''Thanks, you two, good job!'' Both pokemon beamed.

''Cubone, use Bonemerang again!'' Two called. The lonely pokemon seemed to want a little payback because it had already aimed the attack at Shellos, who easily lowered her head to avoid it.

''Use Mud Bomb!''

The strike got the unprepared Cubone straight, leaving it floundering out of surprise. Not forgetting about the Bonemerang, Carmen had Shellos jump up in time to avoid it again, and it wound up hitting Cubone this time. The lonely pokemon was knocked out a second later, much to its trainer's dismay.

''No way!''

''Quick Attack!'' Xavier called.

One smirked when Loudred dodged the move ''That all you got, kid? Loudred, Stomp!''

''Too bad for you it isn't, use Agility!'' Xavier retorted.

Loudred recoiled as its adversary disappeared. Both it and its trainer began looking for the pokemon, realizing almost too late that it was above them. Xavier called for another Ice Shard which Loudred was able to dodge.

The boy merely smirked, his next command proved to be a valid reason. ''Quick Attack!''

One started as Sneasel easily nailed his pokemon in the gut, leaving it stunned.

''Fury Swipes, now!''

Loudred cried out as it was raked by Sneasel's sharp claws repeatedly. Neither the dual type or his trainer were willing to let it off.

''Ice Shard once more!'' Xavier called.

The cluster of ice landed smack on Loudred's head, making it fall. The pokemon tried to get up but it quickly fell back and didn't move again.

''No!''

''Why you little...'' Three growled, now he was on his own...''...Pinsir, hit that bird with Strength until you nail it!''

''Fly away, Stratos!'' Jaden called.

The darkness pokemon complied, only to be left surprised when Pinsir jumped at once, stopping close to him. Jaden fixed the issue by having Stratos use a Night Shade which caught the bug type off guard, leaving it falling back. Three ground his teeth, feeling satisfied as his pokemon righted itself in the fall.

''Wing Attack!''

''Horn Attack!'' Three called back.

The pokemon clashed seconds later, with both winding up pushed away from each other. Jaden ordered a Feint Attack next, but Pinsir recovered well enough to grab the bird at its trainer's command.

''Finally! Now throw it with Strength!''

''I don't think so, Sucker Punch!'' Jaden countered.

Three was left powerless to do anything, knowing fully well that the attack would hit before Pinsir's. He watched Stratos fly up once more, feeling his temper rise up. ''I'm not going to lose to some kid, use Fury Cutter and then Submission. Give it all you've got!''

''Dodge and strike it back with Wing Attack!''

Pinsir jumped up high to try and pin Stratos down, only for the darkness pokemon to avoid the first attack and hit it with a glowing wing that sent it plummeting down. Seconds later, Pinsir could be seen, with its eyes turning into swirls.

''No!''

''All right!'' Carmen grinned.

''They did it!'' Sarah cheered, jumping up and down.

''Those pokemon are useless...'' Two muttered.

''All right, guys...'' Xavier's voice brought the trio's attention to the pokemon that closed in on them. ''...I think I know what to do with those creeps.''

* * *

After tying the three men up, taking their pokeballs and leaving them in a closed office, the group called Officer Jenny, who they explained everything to. Their intentions to keep Shaymin a secret would only do more harm since they needed help to deal with the evil men after all.

While the woman might have been inclined not to believe them, the evidence, with Shaymin revealing itself to her kicked any doubts far away.

''I understand everything now.'' She said at last. ''Thank you for your efforts, you've done well. I'll see to it that those three are taken care of.''

''That's good to hear.'' Xavier stated.

''Officer, do you know where the Gracidea Gardens are?'' Sarah asked curiously.

''Hmm, I can't say for sure but I heard rumors that they were to the north.'' Jenny replied. ''Though I do think Shaymin would know better than anyone there.''

The grass type legendary nodded as if in assent, Jenny smiled ''I doubt there's any reason to worry. Since you've gone this far and Shaymin trusts you, I believe I can leave everything else to you.''

Jaden nodded ''We're going to see Shaymin off. It was already well on its way, those three just derailed it a little, we'll go just to be safe.''

''Now that's some good news.'' Jenny bid them farewell and left.

* * *

''Min?'' Shaymin blinked curiously at the pokedex, which now depicted what looked like the legendary's duplicate.

The pokemon had been leading the group of its new friends down the path it had previously taken on its travel to the Gracidea gardens. It was a little far off from the city.

Shaymin had managed to defeat a few of the trio's pokemon only to be left drained and cornered afterwards, forcing it attempt to flee and resulting in the crash at the observatory where Pachirisu found it. The men had arrived after distracting the observatory workers and making sure they would stay away.

Jaden gave a bemused look, bending to let it have a better look ''This is a pokedex. This tells us about pokemon.'' He pressed a button and a voice began to play.

 _''Shaymin, the Gratitude Pokemon. It can dissolve toxins in the air to instantly transform ruined land into a lush field of flowers.''_

''See?'' Jaden smiled as the grass type now looked interested. So this was something for humans to learn about pokemon? Shaymin had seen things from humans but this was a first.

''Those guys must have done their homework,'' Xavier remarked, taking out one of the gracidea flower buds Officer Jenny had found with the evil men before. Recognizing the plant prompted her to give it to them once she learned of their intentions.

''I wish you'd stay a little longer.'' Sarah said with a pout.

''Now don't be like that. You heard Officer Jenny, this is important. Shaymin has to go.'' Carmen reminded.

''Yeah, I know...'' Pachirisu patted her troubled trainer's arm, making her smile a bit.

Shaymin stopped walking after a bit, alerting them to the fact that it had reached where it wanted to go. The legendary grass type lifted a paw in Xavier's direction. Catching on, the boy gave it the flower bud.

It lit up before proceeding to bloom. Shaymin began to emit a soft glow, it grew bigger, till it was a little taller than Sneasel, turning into the white bi-pedal bright green eyed Sky Forme.

''Wow!''

Shaymin turned to smile at the observers, flying around them.

''That's cool! So this is how you get to the gardens?'' Carmen smiled.

''Shay.'' It nodded, its voice becoming somewhat deeper now. Thanks to them, it would be able to reach it destination. The delighted Shaymin couldn't be more grateful to its new friends.

Carmen patted its head ''Well, good luck. Maybe we'll see you again if we ever come across those gardens?''

''Shaymin!'' The pokemon grinned, liking the idea.

''Hey, why leave it at that?'' Xavier pointed out.

''Yeah, it'd be great if we meet otherwise.'' Jaden added.

''Yeah!'' Sarah beamed. ''We won't forget you so don't go forgetting us, okay, Shaymin?''

Shaymin nodded, that wouldn't happen. Its species personified gratitude, in other words that just wasn't in Shaymin's nature. The legendary began to soar up higher, looking back at the group one more time as they bid it farewell before speeding up and racing off in the vast skies.

* * *

 _And that's that!_

 _Well, this took way longer than I would have liked but I've had a hard time getting back into this story and wound up focusing more on my Fairy tail fic so I'm hoping this chapter would be the thing to do it. I hope it was good._

 _This will be cleared up later but those three villains were from the evil team I mentioned before, they happened to hear about Shaymin so they got greedy and decided to catch it._ _I'm not really good with battle scenes so I hope this was okay, the battles were influenced by the fact that the villains wouldn't take Jaden and the others seriously until the end._

 _Shaymin's going to be making a comeback...more than one, actually. One's quite a ways off but the other's closer and I'm still sort of planning that. This'll be clarified by next chapter but yes, Xavier's going to be one of my main characters. He'll officially join Jaden and Carmen very soon._

 _Anyway, I'll try to keep working on this so hopefully the next chapter won't take as long. As always, thanks for reading!_


End file.
